Infectious
by KKLax13
Summary: Summer vacation was supposed to be an angst-free break from the stresses of Newport, but that all changed in a matter of seconds and led to more complications than anyone predicted.
1. Chapter 1

Infectious Chapter 1

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Probably considered AU because Seth and Ryan never left that summer…character timing might be off, too.

Updates most likely not as often as my other stories…sorry!

* * *

It was going to be a great summer. The past year had been eventful, but nothing the Cohens and Ryan couldn't handle, and now that school was out, life was even better. Ryan was working at the Crab Shack again and was looking forward to his hard-earned spending money. Seth was just excited to be away from the wrath of Dr. Kim.

"Dude, so I can't believe Marissa already left," Seth said he rode his skateboard next to Ryan on his bike. "She never even said why. I mean, doesn't the program start in like, July?"

"No kidding. She said she wanted to 'enjoy Europe before she got too busy' or something," Ryan responded shaking his head in disbelief. In May Marissa decided that she was going to take a six-week fashion class in France, making her absent for the better part of the vacation. She would always dismiss the topic every time Ryan wanted to talk about it, but in recent days, Ryan had come to conclude that maybe her trip would be for the better.

"Well I guess it's better anyways. I mean for starters your on-again-off-again relationship is affecting more than just you two, you know. No offense," Seth replied, speaking as if he wanted to say that comment for a while.

"I know, I know. Sorry." Ryan had been realizing the exact same thing.

"Maybe she's not going to Europe. Maybe Julie's sending her away—" Seth began before getting cut off.

"Shut up, Seth," Ryan dismissed, though Seth did have an interesting point. Ryan didn't even know six-week fashion classes in France existed. He realized later that he should have expected something like this in Newport. Almost a year and the town still surprised him.

"Come on. Think about it. Let me have my fun here. Maybe Marissa's at some finishing school in England. She'll come back in September having needle-pointed a heart with your name on it, Ry. Or maybe she's at a boot camp in Texas. Although she might be starting at a boarding school in Timbuktu. You know I heard Julie say that to her in like sixth grade once. Maybe she finally came around. Or—"

"Seth! Can we just, let's just not talk about it, ok? I just want to have a relaxing summer with no drama, you know? That's all I want. Let's just get home, ok?" Ryan decided, praying for an angst-free summer vacation.

"I hear ya, bro," Seth responded. "Casa de Sanford Cohen, here we come."

"Thank you," Ryan replied, happy to be heading home.

Suddenly, disturbing the eerily-tranquil open road, a loud screech of spinning tires erupted from behind Seth and Ryan. Instinctively, the teens turned around only to see a sleek black sports car swerving everywhere having just turned onto the main road. Somehow, the driver managed to stay on the pavement, yet was zigzagging all over at breakneck speed. Sensing the danger, Ryan yelled to Seth to turn down a dead-end side street to let the asshole pass.

The car came up on the brothers so quickly that neither barely had any time to react. Ryan looked back as he turned down the side street and was shocked at how quickly the car had come towards him. He noticed that one scratched-up side mirror was hanging down by the passenger side window like a loose tooth, most likely a result of hitting a mailbox or a parked car.

Still on his bike, Ryan pushed Seth out of the way as the car hit a pothole and veered towards him. Ryan made a move to get off the road as well but the right front tire of the car clipped the back wheel of Ryan's bike and sent him flying off and down the slight incline on the side of the dead-end.

The driver instantly knew he hit something, and spun the car around to see the two boys laying on the side of the road. Panicking from hitting the boy, the driver spun off down the road faster, if it was even possible, than before, leaving Seth and Ryan in his dust.

"Ryan?" Seth called as he slowly got up onto his knees and looked around. When Ryan had pushed him away, Seth had tripped over his skateboard and fallen to the pavement, hearing but not seeing Ryan get hit. "Ryan?" he called again.

First he heard multiple, brief screams, then Seth looked down the small embankment and saw Ryan gasping for breath. Ryan was lying flat on his back, left leg bending and kicking the air, left hand balled into a fist and pulling on the grass beside him.

"Ryan! Ryan? Oh my God, oh my God, uh Ryan, just hold on," Seth stammered. His voice became higher and higher as he moved closer towards his brother. When Seth was standing over Ryan, he did a quick survey of the injuries and then threw up.

One bone in Ryan's right forearm was through the skin. Seth saw the smooth, glistening end right near Ryan's elbow. A long, deep gash surrounded the open fracture and Seth noticed multiple fragments of the bone sticking every which way in Ryan's raw flesh. It looked like the end of an old-fashioned broom. The worst was what was in the cut. Bits of gravel and dirt and grass had made their way into Ryan's forearm. Tufts of sod were mixed in with the pieces of bone and little pebbles scraped their way all over Ryan's right arm. Ryan's t-shirt was ripped all on the right side as was much of his jeans on the right leg. Seth could see blood slowly pooling in that area as well.

As he fumbled around for his phone, Seth kept watch of Ryan whose face was getting sweatier and paler by the minute.

_Shit, shit!_ Seth thought to himself as he stared at his phone shaking in his hand, somehow at a loss for the inability to dial 911. All he could do was watch Ryan helplessly.

All of a sudden, someone appeared next to the boys.

"I was just running by and I saw you two. What happened?" she asked calmly. How could she be so collected in this situation? Who the hell was she?

"Uh, uh there was a guy in a car…he hit Ryan on his bike. He—" Seth was cut off.

"Here, let me," the girl said as she grabbed the phone out of Seth's quaking hand. "You didn't call anyone…" her voice trailed off but she looked questionably at Seth who shook his head.

"Hi, yes we need an ambulance at the intersection of Main and Woodward please? He was on his bike and was hit by a car and has an open radial fracture with significant debris embedded throughout the arm. He's dyspneic and looks in beginning stages of shock. His friend here is also shaken up and has cuts on his hands. Ok. Thank you." The mysterious girl hung up and handed Seth the phone back.

Seth looked at his hands. They were raw as well, especially his left hand. Why didn't he notice that before? That's why the girl held the phone away from her ear. There was some blood. _His _blood.

"Who are you?" Seth blurted out, eyebrows wrinkled in question.

"Katrin. Like I said, I was out for a jog. And your name?" Katrin asked almost casually as she moved towards Ryan.

"Seth. And he's Ryan," Seth replied, still dazed. He noticed her carefully rip a piece of Ryan's pants and secure it around the cut on his Ryan's leg. "What are you doing?" Seth continued.

"He has a significant cut on his leg. We need to try and control the bleeding," Katrin replied as if it were common knowledge. "Here, pull on this," she continued as she directed Seth's hand to pull on the makeshift bandage. Ryan let out another scream.

"Shhh I know you're in pain, but we're trying to slow down the bleeding," Katrin soothed as she moved up towards Ryan's head. "Can you look at me?"

Ryan didn't reply as he stifled another wave of pain. His lip was becoming bloody from where he was continuously biting down on it. Katrin unzipped her hoodie and gently placed it under Ryan's head.

"Ryan, the ambulance is coming. Hang on, you're doing good. Tell me, did you hit your head at all when you fell? Ryan?" Katrin tried to coax a response out of him.

Ryan's world was turning a blurry gray and bursts of pain blacked his vision out completely. What had happened? Where was he? He had heard Seth's voice earlier, but who was the woman? It didn't sound like Kirsten. The voice belonged to someone younger. Marissa? No, she wasn't supposed to be here…was she? What was happening? All he knew was his entire right side felt on fire and he could feel the squishiness of the damp grass beneath him. His arm throbbed and his leg seemed to be melting. The noise of the siren coming down Main Street didn't even register to Ryan. He was lapsing in an out of consciousness while struggling to take deep breaths.

"Seth how's his leg doing?" Katrin yelled as she cleared some gravel away from Ryan's face.

"Uh, good I guess? It's not really doing anything anymore. Is that good?" Seth didn't want to look. He was frozen, his voice quivering.

"That's good. You're doing it right. You hear the ambulance? Seth, did he hit his head when he fell?" Katrin replied, blowing back some stray hair away from her face.

Seth stared and looked her in the eye for the first time. She was stunning. Who was she?

"Seth? Are you ok? Do you know if he hit his head?" Katrin repeated.

"Uh, no I don't think so. He, he just fell on his arm I think. I didn't see him get hit. I saw him fall though," Seth replied still mystified by Katrin. "Are you like a doctor or something?"

"Something like that," Katrin said with a smirk. The rest of the conversation was cut off by the grateful arrival of the paramedics.

"What happened here? Said he was hit by a car and fell from his bike?" one paramedic asked Seth.

"Yah some jackass was driving all over the road and I think he hit Ryan's back tire or something. He fell on his arm. Obviously," Seth shook his head and followed the paramedics towards Ryan who was now drenched in sweat.

"Son, can you hear me?" the second paramedic asked as he flicked his pen light into Ryan's eyes. "Ryan can you look at me? My name's John and this is my partner Billy. We're going to get you to HOAG as soon as we can, ok?" John talked as he and Billy worked.

"This is a good pressure bandage," Billy remarked. "You did this?" the paramedic asked Seth.

"Katrin did it. I just held it. Is Ryan going to be alright? I mean you can help him, right? I don't know what to do," Seth responded, nervous for Ryan.

"_Who_ did this?" Billy asked, confused.

"Katrin," Seth turned around to point at her but no one else was in sight. "She was here, I swear. See, that's her sweatshirt under Ryan's head. She was out for a jog she said and she came and helped. She's like some doctor super woman person. Where did she go?" Seth was bewildered.

Neither paramedic was paying attention to Seth any more, both focused on Ryan. John was carefully wrapping Ryan's leg while Billy was readying a splint for Ryan's arm.

"Ok, Ryan I'm going to splint your arm now, alright? Bite down on this cloth if you need to. Give your lip a rest. This isn't going to feel good. Hold on, buddy. Stay with me," Billy said as he lifted Ryan's broken arm. Rather than clean his arm out here, the paramedics decided to just cover it before they braced it.

As soon as his arm was moved, Ryan let out an Earth-shattering scream of pain and passed out.

"Oh my God. Ryan!" Seth knelt down as close to Ryan as he could without getting in the paramedics' way. "He's not dead is he?"

"Just passed out from the pain," John confirmed as he finished re-taking Ryan's blood pressure. Noticing Billy's completed splint job John continued, "Let's get him in."

Ryan was strapped into a back board, neck brace and all and loaded into the ambulance.

"You coming, kid?" Billy asked as he shook Seth's shoulder.

Seth nodded and followed the paramedic. The frightened teenager's eyes were wide and he walked like a zombie.

"Here, let's get you cleaned, too," John said as he reached for some alcohol pads.

The sting of the antiseptic on his cut-up palms barely roused Seth from his frozen state. All the noises around him blended together as Seth stared down at Ryan, unconscious, bloody, bandaged, and splinted.

How had their day suddenly changed so much? How did all this happen? Seth couldn't help but think the obvious: this was _not_ going to be the relaxing summer Ryan wanted.

* * *

-Kinda gruesome, I know, sorry. Please read and review!


	2. Chapter 2

Infectious Chapter 2

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate them so much!

* * *

Seth was directed towards the waiting room as soon as they arrived at the hospital. He had called Sandy from the ambulance and he and Kirsten had said they'd meet Seth at HOAG.

"Talk to me, John," came the calm but authoritative voice of an ER doctor as he and many other doctors and nurses surrounded Ryan.

"Sixteen year old Ryan Atwood, hit and run. He was on his bike, no helmet, and was clipped by a car. Open proximal radial fracture splinted and significant cut on his lateral right leg, now bandaged. There's significant debris in the arm and signs of infection are starting to show already. LOC when splinted, but came around a few minutes ago," John rattled off as he helped Billy and the doctors lift Ryan off the gurney.

"Ryan there's going to be a lot of people doing a lot of things to you right now, ok? Just hang in there. You're doing great," a nurse said, getting right in Ryan's face.

"Ryan does your belly hurt at all?" another doctor asked. When he didn't reply, the doctor continued, "Ryan listen to me. Does this hurt when I press down here?"

Ryan tried to shake his head but was stopped by the neck brace so he let out a pained 'no' instead. He was trying his best to stifle cries of pain but every time someone even came near his arm he couldn't help but moan. Tears were now coming down his face.

"Ok how about your chest, hun? Does your chest hurt?" the same doctor asked as she gently touched Ryan's ribs.

Ryan let out a hiss when she touched the ribs on his right side.

"I'll take that as a yes," the doctor replied. "We're going to need some pictures of his chest, too!" she called out to the radiologist who was bringing the portable x-ray machine to the table.

Ryan felt himself being rolled onto his side and someone was feeling down his spine checking for any back injuries. People were prodding everywhere and he barely registered what they were saying. _Infection_, _x-rays, surgery, stitches._ Doctors and nurses were ordering medications left and right. Finally his neck brace was taken off after they ruled out any neck, head, or spinal injuries. Ryan was finally given a bit of pain medication, enough to take the edge off yet still make him alert enough to respond.

Multiple x-rays of his chest, right leg, pelvis, and right arm were taken and the ER doctors decided that it was time for Ryan to go upstairs to an OR to remove all the debris embedded in Ryan's arm. Hopefully they'd be able to set the arm as well, but it looked unlikely due to infection. That surgery would have to wait.

Meanwhile, Kirsten and Sandy had arrived, running frantically into the waiting room.

"Seth? Seth honey what happened?" Kirsten cried as she hugged her son. "Oh, honey you got hurt, too?" she pointed to Seth's bandaged left hand.

"No, Ryan pushed me away from the car before he got hit. The driver was all over the place. I just scraped my hand on the pavement. They cleaned and wrapped it in the ambulance," Seth explained. "It's Ryan that's bad. Really bad, mom. You could see the bone in his arm sticking out! It's my fault. If he hadn't taken the time to push me out of the way..." Seth started to tear.

"That's not true, Seth. It was an accident. Tell us what happened," Sandy said as he sat his family down in nearby chairs.

Before he could continue, a doctor came out carrying a consent form and called for the family.

"I'm Dr. Kacevich," the man replied. "I was one of the doctors who worked on Ryan in the emergency room. I don't know how much you already know, but Ryan has broken his arm very badly. One bone came through the skin. However there is a significant amount of debris embedded in the cut on his arm," the doctor pointed to his own arm. "There are a lot of veins here and there was a lot of blood mixed in as well. The x-rays also show two broken ribs on his right side. He is on his way upstairs right now to clean up his arm and I brought you this form to sign allowing us to continue with the procedure," Dr. Kacevich gave the clipboard to Sandy.

"And you're going to put the bone back in, right? I mean you can do that and stuff, right?" Seth asked as his knee bounced up and down nervously.

"Ryan's temperature is 102.6 and his blood work shows an elevated white count. There are also other signs of infection around his arm. We can't close the fracture until the infection heals. They'll make the final decision upstairs, but it looks like we'll have to keep cleaning it and keep giving him the antibiotics before we can set his arm."

"How long before you set it?" Sandy asked, completely grossed-out by the doctor's explanations.

"It will probably be about ten days. If it's the case, Ryan will stay in the ICU where he can be isolated with his open wound. We will come in and clean his arm three times a day in addition to his IV antibiotics," Dr. Kacevich continued.

"He had a cut on his leg, too," Seth suddenly remembered. "I had to hold it…" he trailed off.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, we did give him eighteen stitches on the outside of his leg. Everything looked as good as possible in that respect. From what I understand you saved him a whole lot of trouble, young man," Dr. Kacevich nodded at Seth.

Seth gave a small smile and then gave his parents a 'I'll tell you later' look. Dr. Kacevich's name was called over the loudspeaker. He excused himself and took the signed form from Sandy then went through the double doors.

* * *

"What is taking them so long!" Seth complained for the third time. "All they're doing is cleaning his arm! How long can that take?"

"I'm sure they'll come out any minute. They're just being thorough," Kirsten rationalized.

No sooner did she say that did another doctor emerge from the elevator, asking for the guardians of Ryan Atwood.

"I'm Dr. Hallbourg," the woman introduced herself. "I was one of the surgeons working on Ryan."

"How is he? Can we see him?" Sandy asked quickly.

"He's in recovery right now and then he'll be moved to the ICU shortly. We were successful in getting all the bits of pavement, dirt, and grass embedded in Ryan's arm. He took quite a fall! A doctor from the emergency room came and talked to you about the possible infection, right?" Dr. Hallbourg asked Sandy and Kirsten.

"Yes, he did. Were you able to set his arm?" Kirsten asked hopefully but she knew it wasn't true.

The doctor shook her head. "The cut is indeed infected and his fever is still holding steady. We have him right now on IV antibiotics and we will be cleaning out the wound often. Hopefully by the end of next week we'll be able to have him casted and on his way home."

"End of next week?" Seth asked, scrunching up his face. "Ryan's_ not_ going to like that."

Dr. Hallbourg smiled. "We will be giving him pain medication as needed and making sure he's comfortable, but I agree. It's not the best way to start off a summer vacation. Ok, why don't you follow me upstairs to the ICU. A nurse will let you know when you can see Ryan."

The Cohens waited around an hour before they were given white surgical masks to go and see Ryan. Despite the loose bandages, Ryan still had a significant open wound that was already infected. He didn't need any more germs. Seth couldn't wait until Ryan was awake. He'd have a field day with this.

Ryan looked so small surrounded by all the machines and IV's. His entire right arm was gently wrapped, from his hand to just about his shoulder and it was slightly suspended and laid nicely in cloth traction to keep his arm off the bed and elevated to try and decrease the swelling. He looked pale and feverish and just plain sick with the oxygen cannula in his nose. Poor Ryan. Hadn't he had enough?


	3. Chapter 3

Infectious Chapter 3

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thank you for the reviews!!

* * *

Ryan slept for the rest of the day but woke up to throbbing pains in his arm, ribs, and leg just before seven o'clock. He blinked his eyes slowly as he started to return to consciousness and with each blink, reality came closer and closer.

Where was he? He felt warm, yet cold at the same time. His arm felt detached from his body, as if the traction was tugging it away. He could feel the air passing through the gauzy bandages and into his open wound, but then again he found a strange security in the wrapped protection. Every time he breathed, his ribs reminded him of the accident, although his brain seemed a step behind.

Luckily, Seth noticed Ryan's return to the land of the living and woke up Kirsten. Sandy was just returning from a coffee run and he quickly turned back around to find a nurse.

"Ryan? You awake, Ry?" Seth asked slightly hesitantly. Seth had always associated hospitals with sickness or injuries, but never someone becoming sick as a result of injuries. He'd never seen an arm with a bone sticking out of it and now poor Ryan had to have his un-repaired arm disinfected three times a day. The nurses had already done so twice since Ryan's admission to the hospital and it was not a pleasant sight.

"Seth?" Ryan replied in a confused voice.

"Yah, buddy it's me. You're uh, you're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?" Seth asked as he exchanged looks with Kirsten.

Ryan thought for a moment as he took in the scene around him. Besides the pains all over his body, he noticed how his leg was propped up on a pillow and he stared at the arm sling, eyes wide at the sight of the bandages. The room looked very clean and sterile, like a laboratory. He took stock of the leads and wires on his body and the machines they attached to and Ryan to came to his unfortunate conclusion: Yup, he was in the hospital.

Then it all came back to him. Crazy driver. Bike. Hit. Ditch. Bone sticking out. Seth. Wait…Seth was there, too. He didn't get hit, right? But he couldn't have…he was sitting right there. He was wearing a mask, Ryan noticed for the first time.

"You're ok," Ryan said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yah, I'm fine, thanks to you," was all Seth could reply.

"Honey how do you feel? Are you in pain? Sandy's gone to get a nurse," Kristen couldn't talk fast enough. She wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be alright, but she knew she couldn't touch him without gloves on. Hopefully Ryan would understand her lack of comfort. They had come so far this past year getting him to open up. She would try every way the doctors let her to show Ryan that his family was here for him.

Ryan didn't answer Kirsten's question which was enough for alarm. The absence of a misplaced 'I'm fine' was doubly bad. Luckily Sandy returned with a nurse who was dressed with a sterile blue gown, a mask, and latex gloves. Two young student nurses in the same outfit followed.

"Hi, Ryan. It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" the older woman asked as she swabbed the IV port in Ryan's left arm and injected pain medication. Her nametag read 'Kathleen.'

"Arm hurts," Ryan admitted in a low mumble.

"I suspect it does," Kathleen smiled. "You had quite a fall, young man. How much have you been told about the accident?"

Ryan didn't answer. He was staring one of the students. Although he could only see half of her face, Ryan felt like he knew exactly what she looked like. She had incredible, mysterious eyes. Did he know her?

"He just woke up, we didn't have a chance to explain anything," Kirsten answered for Ryan, jolting him back into reality.

"Before I continue, let me introduce my students. This is Katrin Laine and Katia Strobel. Do you mind if they sit in?" Kathleen explained.

"Katrin?" Seth's head popped up. "Katrin from the accident? Like super hero doctor Katrin?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Katrin replied, her heart racing at the brief yet meaningful glare from Katia. "I'm just a student. I'm not a doctor. All I know about the accident is what I've read on Ryan's chart."

"Seth what are you talking about?" Sandy asked, confused. He looked between his two sons. "I'm sorry, Kathleen. Please continue." He shot Seth a 'we'll talk about this later' look.

"Aw come on! Now you make me look like some hallucinating druggie, which, I think everyone in this room can attest to the extreme fallacy of that idea. Katrin, you put your sweatshirt under Ryan's head. You showed me how to stop the bleeding on Ryan's leg. You—" Seth was cut off by Sandy.

"Seth, that's enough! I'm sorry girls," Sandy apologized.

Ryan closed his eyes. Maybe he _had _imagined Katrin. But there was something about her voice. Something wasn't right.

"Well, Ryan like I was saying," Kathleen continued, "you took quite a fall. The surgeons weren't able to set your arm because of all the debris that you decided to drag in with you. Your arm is indeed infected and we cannot operate until the infection is clear. So for now, we'll be cleaning out the wound by hand often, ensuring the site is clean before they fix the bone."

"So I have a bone sticking out of my arm?" Ryan looked in disbelief at his elevated limb.

"'Fraid so. Now it's very important that you do not touch the cut. Do you understand? You cannot afford any germs. Everyone that comes in contact with you must be wearing gloves and a mask. Your visitors must wear a mask." Kathleen mandated. She meant business.

"It's true, dude. You've landed in the ninja-only zone. I'm thinking about dying mine black to get the full effect," Seth tried to cheer Ryan up.

Ryan rolled his eyes and managed a small smile. "How long am I here for?" he asked Kathleen who looked at the students.

"We will clean the wound three times a day for ten days," Katia explained in a heavy German accent. "Then they will set your arm and you will go home the next day."

"Honey, we'll be here the whole way. We aren't going anywhere. It will be over sooner than you think, you'll see," Kirsten comforted upon seeing Ryan's panicked look.

"Ten days?" Ryan's heart rate increased.

"It will go by fast," Katrin smiled, again seeing Katia's hardly-noticeable warning look.

Ryan sighed. Cross this off the list for a good summer. Even the toughest times in Chino seemed better than this. So there were a few loose ends still in the city, but Ryan figured he was passed them. He was looking forward to a 'great' summer in Newport.

* * *

Visiting hours ended at eight o'clock and the Cohens reluctantly returned home. Kirsten was going back to the hospital as soon as she could change at home and would stay overnight with Ryan. She could tell that Ryan honestly took comfort in her gesture. She would make sure he wasn't alone.

"Seth what were you talking about before? You met Katrin at the accident site? The doctors said you were the only one the paramedics saw," Sandy asked his son at home.

"Dad, I swear. She said she was running by and saw us. She even commented on my hand!" Seth held up his bandaged palm. "Find the ambulance people and ask them about the jacket. It was one of those sweat shirt/jacket things with the zipper, you know those, right?"

"Seth I don't know. She said she never saw you before. Son what's gotten into you?" Sandy asked quizzically.

"Ask Ryan. See if he remembers her." Seth was distracted by his phone ringing. "Summer's calling, dad. This conversation isn't over."

Sandy just sighed and fixed himself a sandwich.

* * *

"Katrin! Katrin _what_ do you think you are doing?" Katia scolded as she pulled her friend around the corner when the coast was clear.

"K, I told you I was just passing by…" Katrin answered uneasily, breaking eye contact.

"You followed them, that's what you did, Katrin. How did you get down there? You knew what was going to happen. Do _not _fall for him. What will you do if Victor finds out, huh?" Katia whispered harshly.

"He won't find out, K. It was supposed to be a warning anyways, except asshole Eddie can't even drive straight. Ryan was a mess, K. He's just an innocent kid and that Eddie's a jealous prick," Katrin tried to justify.

"We weren't even supposed to overhear that conversation, Katrin. This is _none_ of our business. It's bad enough we're assigned to his room, but I'm going to make that work for us if anyone questions us. He's not even supposed to be here. He was just supposed to be scared. Don't make it worse by getting involved or Victor will stop our visas, you know that, and I am _not _going back to Berlin. We pay him, he gets fast visas, we learn in America at the best hospital in Cali. I've worked too hard back home to save this money, and so have you. _Do not_ blow this. Now lets go finish the notes before anyone sees us. _Nothing_ is going to ruin this," Katia stormed off.

Katrin acted like she was finding a pen at the nurses' desk on the other side of the hall, but instead she made her way back to Ryan's room. She stared at the sleeping boy and shook her head. It was all over a girl. Katrin and Katia had overheard two nights ago a conversation with some man who Victor called Eddie. Victor owed him a favor and the latter wanted to send his 'friend' a message. What unfortunate timing.

* * *

"_Vick," a man had called upon seeing his friend outside the house. "Vick I need to cash in that favor you owe me."_

_"Yeah? How much it gonna cost me?"_

_"I need to borrow one of your cars."_

_"Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. And what, pray tell are you going to do? Joy ride?"_

_"Shove it, Vick. I have a…problem I need to attend to," Eddie replied._

_"Let me guess. It involves a fight for Theresa," Victor said as he walked farther down the street. Little did the pair know that Katrin and Katia were just going to pay Victor his first installment for the visa. Katia pulled her friend behind the bushes, not wanting to interrupt a clearly important conversation._

_Eddie nodded. "It's Ryan Atwood. He moved all the way to fucking Newport and she still followed him."_

_"So you're going to run him down? That's low even for you," Victor replied._

_"I'm just going to scare him, not hit him," Eddie retorted._

_"So use _your_ car," Victor was getting annoyed._

_"I drive a fucking '92 Pontiac. They don't have those in Newport. I don't want him to know it's me. Not yet."_

_"Oh come on. Now all of a sudden you're Mr. Devious? What are you going to do? Stock him?" Victor laughed._

_"Fuck you, Vick. I know where he goes. You owe me," Eddie angrily replied._

_"Take the Z3," Victor gave in after a moment's consideration and tossed Eddie the keys. "Do _not _hit him. I don't want anything at all on my car, understand? When you're done with your little game, you bring it right back. Don't let anyone see the license plate."_

_"Thanks, Vick. Now we're even," Eddie smiled, juggling the keys in his hand._

_"Just don't get yourself in over your head. I'm not helping you anymore after this and don't you dare bring me down with you," Victor had warned._

_"Never, Vicky. Never."_

_

* * *

_Ryan opened his eyes slightly and saw Katrin behind the glass. She wasn't wearing a mask this time, and Ryan knew that he recognized her. She _was_ real. He would tell Seth that next time he visited. Ryan was doped up on pain medication, yet he was sure Katrin was a memory, not a dream.

Just then, Kirsten returned to the hospital and Katrin ducked out of sight.

"Ryan? Ryan, hi, honey," Kirsten said gently. "I'm back now. You just go back to sleep. Don't worry, everything's alright. You're not to worry."

* * *

A/N: PLEASE let me know if this is sounding cheesy. I can totally change it around from here. There's still more sickness to come, too!


	4. Chapter 4

Infectious Chapter 4

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thank you so much for reviewing!

I wanted to make the story more interesting by adding something more to Katrin since I already kind of set her up…but the story's going to still be mostly about the Cohens :)...Eddie, etc. won't last long.

* * *

Every time the nurses came in to clean Ryan's cut, they gave him a little pain medication to work against the burning and stinging sensations. At first Ryan was glad for the relief, but now he was beginning to feel even more groggy and disconnected. By the fourth day of his semi-isolation, his fever had dropped significantly and his blood work showed a decreased white count. All the cleaning, wrapping, and the other precaution measures were working quicker than they thought. The infection luckily was clearing. The sooner the surgery the better.

Katrin had stopped by as often as she could, making lame excuses for her visits, and it was becoming apparent that she had a crush on Ryan. Seth even took to privately calling her Florence Nightingale. She could tell that Ryan was beginning to fall for her as well. Either that or he was delirious from the fever.

They had all gotten over Katrin's appearance at the accident scene. It was actually Ryan who brought it up, much to Seth's pleasure. Katrin told Seth and Ryan that she hadn't wanted Katia to know she was in the area which accounted for the awkward reunion on the first night of Ryan's hospital stay. It technically was the truth but Katrin just left it at that. No one else had to know. Seth just accepted the fact that Sandy had another example to add to the list of Seth's crazy ideas.

"Hello, hello!" Katrin greeted happily as she carried in Ryan's breakfast. He smiled despite his tired appearance. "Ryan they are going to set your arm tomorrow if all goes well," she continued.

"I forget what they said about that," Ryan replied honestly as he accepted the tray. "How much longer will I have to be here?"

"Really? Ryan don't you listen?" Katrin smiled and faked being insulted as she put the straw through the orange juice carton.

"Florence, he just wants you to talk to him," Seth laughed. "Haven't you figured that out yet? Clearly our drugged-up little patient here is fully in his right mind and understands completely his discharge procedure."

Ryan smirked a half-guilty, half-confused expression. "_You _never told me, and I only pay attention to important people," Ryan said smartly as he looked at Katrin.

"Oh, well thank you, Ry," Seth teased. "I appreciate such a complimentary remark."

"Just tell me what's going to happen," Ryan ignored Seth.

"Well tomorrow the doctor's going to come in and do one final check of your wound. Everything looks good but they just want to be sure. Then you'll have your surgery where they'll re-position the broken bones and add screws and plates for support. They'll tell you all again this in detail tomorrow," Katrin added noticing Ryan's scared face. "It will be fine."

"How much longer do I have to stay?" Ryan asked quietly.

A quick look of disappointment flashed across Katrin's face before she replied, "The surgery will be in the morning and they'll probably keep you overnight just because of your previous infection."

Ryan looked at the bed and picked at the linens with his good hand. This was turning into the longest week of his life. No one outside the family was allowed to visit, yet Ryan was surrounded by gifts from well-wishers. He counted the hours before he could be released back into freedom.

"Don't worry, Ryan. I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you," Katrin smiled earnestly, speaking more than Ryan knew.

* * *

Ryan was scheduled for surgery at 9am the next morning and he was becoming restless the night before.

"Honey, you have nothing to worry about," Kirsten patted Ryan's good hand before he fell asleep that night. "It will all be over before you know it. It's going to be ok."

"They said it would take a while for me to be able to use it again," Ryan mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Kirsten was taken aback at first, not expecting Ryan to express his feelings.

"I know, sweetie. You'll have a cast for a while and then some physical therapy," Kirsten smiled sympathetically. "But it will be worth it. Just wait. It will be alright."

Ryan nodded. "Thank you," he said quietly, still picking at the starched blanket.

"For what, honey?" Kirsten was beginning to realize how scared Ryan was.

"Everything. I'm sorry you guys are putting up with all this," Ryan replied quietly.

"Ryan. You are my son. Where else would we be? We're a family and we're in this together. We love you, honey." Kirsten added a silent 'don't you know that?'

"I know. I know, I really do," Ryan caught on to her implied statement. "It's just, I've never had anyone care so much…thanks, is all."

"No matter what we're not going anywhere. You're stuck with us," Kirsten smiled. "We'll get through this, Ryan. I promise. You're not to worry."

Ryan nodded, satisfied. He knew he was going to be out of commission for a while and it was still embarrassing to ask for help, no matter how long he'd been with the Cohens. Even talking about it was bad. In addition to his dread, he was not looking forward to learning how to do everything with his left hand. He just might have to give in and accept the help he knew he'd receive.

Ryan didn't sleep well that night. He kept waking up with anxious feelings in his stomach that seemed to creep up from his navel to his throat, causing him to breathe faster. He looked over at Kirsten every time he woke, but it was not for comfort, but out of courtesy. Either Kirsten or Sandy had spent the night with him the entire hospital stay, and he didn't want to repay them by interrupting the minimal sleep they got on the uncomfortable cot. He felt he owed them so much, no matter how hard the Cohens tried to convince him otherwise.

* * *

Seth and Sandy arrived the next morning just before Ryan was going into pre-op. One of Ryan's doctors and a nurse were in the room doing one last check up. Of course, Katrin was hiding behind the small crowd. Ryan saw her and smiled.

"You're looking good, kiddo," Dr. Scopetski said as he re-bandaged Ryan's arm for what he thought to be the last time. "I'll see ya in a few hours, alright? Someone will be in soon to take you downstairs."

Ryan nodded and Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a few words with the doctor before he left for his rounds. The nurse and Katrin finished cleaning up the supplies. As they left, Katrin gave one last, encouraging smile.

"I'll see you when you get back," she said to Ryan.

"You've got quite a fan, there, kid," Sandy remarked after they women left.

"Geeze, give the guy some credit points here, Dad. I mean, he_ is_ a little scratched up. Girls go for guys with bones sticking out. It's a new trend. I'm thinking of doing so myself. I've barely seen Summer since school got out. I—" Seth was cut off by Sandy.

"Seth, that's enough," Sandy smiled.

"I'm just trying to help the guy out, Father, but yes, I agree. He has fallen victim to the Florence Nightingale effect. Although that's not really a bad thing. I shouldn't say 'victim.' He's lucky actually," Seth continued.

Two orderlies came into Ryan's room just then to bring Ryan down to the O.R. Kirsten held Ryan's hand as long as she could before they took him in.

"We'll be right here waiting for you. We love you," she said as she kissed him on his forehead.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine, kid. See you soon," Sandy added.

"I'll keep an eye on Flo for you," Seth laughed then cleared his throat as his parents shot him looks.

A few hours into Ryan's surgery, Summer and Luke joined the Cohens in the waiting room. It might not have been the first week of vacation that Ryan imagined, but one thing was for sure. No matter how things turned out, Ryan would always have people who cared for him.

* * *

Sorry it's taken me a while to get to this again. More family/friends/sickness and to come soon!


	5. Chapter 5

Infectious Chapter 5

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thank you so much for reviewing/alerting!

* * *

Sandy, Kirsten, Seth, Summer, and Luke sat silently in the surgical waiting room, each glancing at the clock on the far wall, only to find the minute hand ticking slower and slower. The doctor had assured them not to worry, and that Ryan was in good hands, but how much did that mean? The surgeons didn't know Ryan, what he'd been through. Despite how compassionate they seemed, the staff at HOAG would never know how important Ryan was to everyone in that waiting room. _That's_ why Ryan was special. _That's_ why he didn't deserve to be in surgery. He was Ryan.

No sooner did Seth ran out of nails to bite did Dr. Ling enter the waiting room. The group looked up expectantly at her entrance, hoping that _this_ time there would be news about Ryan. Every doctor thus far who appeared had asked for other families. Ryan of course was past the doctors' estimated surgery time, making everyone that more anxious.

"Family of Ryan Atwood?" Dr. Ling's sweet but confident voice could be heard. The Cohens and Summer and Luke stood up as quick as if their chairs were on fire.

"Yes, here. I'm Sandy Cohen and this is my wife Kirsten. We are Ryan's legal guardians," Sandy recited urgently.

"How is he? Is he alright?" Kirsten added immediately.

Dr. Ling directed the group to a more private corner of the room and sat them down. "Ryan is out of surgery now and in recovery," she began. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but Seth noticed something in the doctor's eyes that suggested more.

"But he's ok, right? I mean you fixed his arm and everything? What took you guys so long? He's gonna be fine, right?" Seth rambled.

Before Sandy could quiet Seth, Dr. Ling spoke again. "Ryan had a slight reaction to the anesthesia."

"Slight? What do you mean 'slight'?" Kirsten panicked.

"It's not a cause for great concern. Everyone reacts differently to anesthesia, and Ryan is just taking a little longer to wake up. The anesthesiologist wasn't able to lift the sedation as much as he would have liked by now, but I don't expect Ryan to sleep for much longer than the rest of the day. He will wake up on his own," she added quickly as she noticed the group's fearful faces.

"Can we sit with him?" Sandy finally asked.

"Sure. He'll be out of recovery soon and you can join him when he gets settled in a little bit. Do you have any other questions?" Dr. Ling asked kindly. Somehow when she explained things the situation didn't seem that bad. He'd wake up. He was Ryan.

"When can he come home?" Sandy asked.

"We'll re-assess him when he wakes up, but probably on Wednesday. We want to make sure everything goes to plan," the doctor answered as she let on a sweet smile.

"Two more days?" Seth whined as he laid back in his chair hastily. "Man he's going to be so piss— I mean mad. You told him he'd be out tomorrow!"

"Well that was before the tiny bump in the road," Dr. Ling replied in a way that made Seth feel guilty to argue any more.

"Man this is _not_ Ryan's summer," Luke added. Everyone jumped having forgotten that Summer and Luke were present.

"I'll agree with you on that," Dr. Ling laughed, "but I can assure you he's doing well and has the best care possible. Do you have any other questions?"

"No, thank you. You'll let us know when we can see him?" Sandy asked with a voice that showed his sympathy for Ryan.

"Of course. A nurse will be out to tell you shortly," Dr. Ling answered then disappeared behind the 'Hospital Staff Only' doors.

* * *

Katrin returned that afternoon to the apartment she shared with Katia. The girls were no longer speaking, Katia almost completely shutting out her friend since she became aware of Katrin and Ryan's mutual crush. Katia made it clear to her fellow student that she didn't want anything to do with someone who would jeopardize her stay in America or the fact that they technically didn't have approved visas, but that was all well for Katrin. It was worth the sacrifice. She felt bad for wishing Ryan would stay longer in the hospital. She enjoyed seeing him every day, perhaps more than she should, but he had suffered enough. He deserved to have a peaceful recovery at home. Maybe she could ask to see him once he was settled in Newport…

The apartment was empty when Katrin finally keyed in. She went to her bedroom and opened the slender wooden box of items she brought from home in Germany and rummaged through the many trinkets. Underneath the pictures of her brothers and sisters was an envelope where she kept the money she owed Victor. She knew it was stupid to keep cash around in the house, let alone in one place, but nevertheless, her money was tucked under photographs, prayer cards, and the many Snapple caps she collected since being in the United States.

Tucking the money in her pocket, Katrin left the apartment and hopped on the bus to take her to the other side of town to find Victor.

* * *

"He looks like a statue," Seth commented dumbly as he stared at the sleeping Ryan. "Or maybe a manikin for plaster land."

"That's some cast you've got there, Chino," Summer commented, almost laughing as she stared down at her motionless friend. She could only imagine Ryan's reaction when he awoke. The cast went from his fingers all the way to almost his shoulder and his arm was bent. He had a sling on as well making him look even worse.

Sandy, Kirsten, Luke, and Summer sat in Ryan's room discussing the modified summer vacation. An hour later Kirsten had excused herself to use the bathroom and Sandy had to take a important phone call, leaving the teens alone with Ryan.

Seth sprang up from his chair and shut the door."Let's draw on his cast," he said mischievously.

"Seth," Luke said, rolling his eyes.

"Cohen," Summer scolded at the same time.

"Aw come on. He's going to be pissed already and plus he's out like a light. A very broken light. They've got to have a pen here somewhere. You know to, uh…write stuff down. Big medical words and test results and stuff like that." Seth babbled absent-mindedly as he opened and closed every drawer in the room.

"Seth you can't draw on his cast while he's still unconscious from anesthesia. That's a dick move there, man," Luke spelled out.

"You know, I think your mom had a green Sharpie in her purse…" Summer egged Seth on just to see his reaction.

"Bingo. And that's why I love you," Seth professed triumphantly as he gave his girlfriend a kiss on her cheek. He rummaged through Kirsten's conveniently-left purse and pulled out a mini, forest green Sharpie.

"Seth you're not actually going to do this," Luke warned, but a smile crept across his face, almost daring him to do it.

"You under-estimate my courage, my friend. And besides, it's not like he can beat me up," Seth reasoned. "Look at him. Defenseless. Maybe we should get Florance in here…"

"I'll keep a look out," Summer laughed. "I don't think your mom would be too happy, Cohen."

"For the record, this was _your _idea," Luke added as he carefully lifted part of Ryan's sling so Seth could write on the white cast.

"Proud to admit it," Seth smiled.

Within minutes, Ryan's already-bad-enough huge arm cast now had tiny signatures from Summer and Luke and a not-so-small picture of Superman with Seth's name credited to the artwork.

"I've always believed that the 'S' on Superman's costume stood for 'Seth,'" Seth had explained as he drew on his brother's arm. "That way this wonderful Sharpie-drawn graphic representation of comic heroism has a double meaning."

As soon as Seth had thrown the marker back into the purse, Kirsten returned to the room.

"Why was the door closed?" she asked the teens, turning to Seth.

"Well isn't it obvious, mother? Summer was singing too loud to Ryan and the nurses shut the door on her. Quite rude actually," Seth explained.

"Oh shut up, Cohen," Summer glared at Seth before turning to Kirsten. "We were just talking and felt bad talking so loud. Besides, I have a wonderful voice," she added looking somewhat hurt.

"Ok, well that was very considerate of you then," Kirsten decided, still a little unconvinced at the explanation. She walked over to Ryan and gave him another kiss. She smoothed this hair and sighed. Her motherly protection came naturally.

* * *

Katrin got off the bus and walked from the stop to Victor's house. She marched confidently right up to the door and rang the bell, rubbing her thumb against the cash in her pocket. Victor was an intimidating man to many. He was large and put his size to good use when intimidation was necessary. But it was evident that he had a soft spot for girls, especially the pretty ones.

"Ah Katrin," Victor smiled upon opening the door to one of his favorite customers. "You have July's payment I assume? Or are you here for an…extension on the deal. Favors can be arranged, my dear."

"I have the money," Katrin stated flatly, wiping the Cheshire grin off the con man's face. She knew what she was doing was illegal. She and Katia never should have gotten involved with the deal in the first place. Then again, she would never have met Ryan…

"Get in, then. The neighbors talk enough already," Victor took Katrin's arm and ushered her inside as he nodded across the street.

Katrin handed over the cash and began her planned monologue. "You know," she began, catching Victor's attention. The last time the two had spoken Katrin had passed in the money and abruptly left. The man turned in surprise. "Katia and I have been having a wonderful time working at HOAG."

"That's great," Victor replied almost sarcastically as he counted the cash.

"We've had the most interesting patients. I know I'm not allowed to talk about them, but there is this one kid in particular. He's sixteen or seventeen I think," she continued, eyeing Victor.

"It's all here. Good," Victor held up the money, not paying attention to the story.

Katrin nodded. "Well the boy, he's been with us for five days now and I feel so bad for him, Brian I think his name is. Or maybe Ryan. Yes, Ryan." Katrin didn't care how bad a nurse Victor though she was. He already knew she was illegal. "Well Ryan was hit by a car, you know."

This caught Victor's attention. Ryan. Young. Car. "When did you say this was?" he asked.

"Oh five days ago. It was a hit and run," Katrin shook her head convincingly.

"Yeah? Any, uh, any clues on the driver?" Victor's hands stumbling over the bills as he stuffed them away.

"Well we think so. He's pretty hurt you know. Broke his arm real bad. His family's really rich, too. I think they might sue. Ryan remembers a black BMW. He didn't catch the whole plate, but his brother was with him. They knew the driver was male, though. Of Latino descent, they think," Katrin lied. None of it was true. Although the Cohens were at a loss for the cause of the accident, they did not have any legal plans that Katrin knew of.

"They didn't get the whole plate? You sure?" Victor now was concentrating fully on Katrin.

"He didn't see everything he says. But then again, his memory is clearing up. Maybe he'll ID the asshole who did it," Katrin headed for the door.

"Maybe…" Victor bit his cheek.

"It almost sounds like the hit was on purpose," Katrin continued. "If I was that driver, I'd stop whatever I was doing. Ryan's got a lot of people looking out for him. It's not fair, you know? He's such a good kid and to think he was sought out? Who would do such a thing?"

Victor was so stunned he couldn't retort, especially against a girl as beautiful as Katrin.

"Well I've got to be going. Katia will be home soon. I'll be back at the end of the month! Thank you again so much!" Katrin continued and ran out of the house before Victor came to his senses. Katrin was always scared when she talked to him, never knowing what he was thinking, but today she was happy to put him on his heels.

Victor heard the door shut and he immediately ran around back to his garage where he kept the nice cars. Opening the expensive security system, he lifted the door to see the BMW, the Jag, and his 1977 Mustang. He paused for a moment and admired the fruits of the incredible amount of money he had made illegally. Reality snapped him from his day dream and he went to inspect the front of the Z3. Sure enough, underneath the front bumper was a tiny scratch. There was no way to notice it unless he was searching for the marking. Eddie must have done a good job covering the rest.

Victor leaned against the wall of the garage, trying to take stock of the situation that was quickly getting out of hand. Two of his fake visa nurses were monitoring a patient that was hit by his car that he loaned to a jealous friend. He had no control over the hospital or the family that was considering 'suing,' but he knew one thing. Eddie was never laying a hand near Ryan Atwood again.

* * *

Let me know what you think! More fam/friends/sickness/hurt-comfort to come (hopefully) soon!


	6. Chapter 6

Infectious Chapter 6

Obvious FYI: I have nothing to do with the O.C.!

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

* * *

By the time Ryan woke up from the surgery it was close to 9 pm. Sandy, Seth, Summer, and Luke had returned home after visiting hours ended, but Kirsten was prepared to stay the night with her injured son.

""Sten?" Ryan mumbled as he saw his foster mother out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, Ryan, honey. Hi. Thank God. How are you feeling?" Kirsten jumped up from her seat and knelt next to the bed.

"Tired," Ryan replied honestly.

"Does your arm hurt? I imagine it does, you just had surgery. I'm going to call a nurse," Kirsten fussed.

"I'm fine," Ryan muttered, his eyes closing.

"Sweetie, you're not fine," Kirsten said as she smoothed Ryan's hair and pressed the nurse's call button. The night nurse Mary Alice appeared quickly.

"Ah, Ryan!" the nurse exclaimed. "How are we doing, young man? Glad you decided to wake up," she smiled as she picked up his chart and checked the monitors.

"Huh?" Ryan said, confused. He looked towards the window. How did it get to be night out?

"You had a little reaction to the anesthesia, honey," Kirsten comforted. "You're fine now. You're ok. Don't worry. It's ok," she kept repeating, perhaps more so for herself than Ryan.

"What time is it?" Ryan asked, dumbfounded.

"Almost nine," the nurse answered, smiling. "Welcome back. How do you feel?"

"And don't say 'fine,' Ryan," Kirsten reminded pointedly.

"My arm hurts, so does my leg, chest, and head. But I just want to sleep," Ryan his voice trailed as he closed his eyes.

"Ok, hon," Mary Alice spoke as she wrote on the thick chart. "Don't let your pain get too bad, ok? The doctor will come and check you when you're more awake."

Ryan was already out again.

"Thank you," Kirsten turned to Mary Alice.

"Of course. I'll let the on-call doctor know he's awake," the nurse replied as she smiled and excused herself from the room.

Kirsten sighed as she leaned back in her chair and faced Ryan. She looked at the long cast placed awkwardly on his stomach with the sling. His face made him seem so exhausted and vulnerable with the way he painfully slept. She knew it would be a difficult summer, but she was determined to give Ryan the best care possible, and she would make sure the rest of the family and his friends were by her side.

* * *

"Oh look who finally decided to wake up!" Seth exclaimed as he barged through Ryan's door as soon as visiting hours started the next morning with Summer and Luke again in tow.

"Seth," Ryan muttered, mad at being awaken from his night's sleep. "Go away."

"Oh, Sleeping Beauty. Are you Grumpy? Wrong fairy tale," Seth shook his head.

"Not funny, Seth," Ryan replied as he shut his eyes again.

"Come on, Chino, wake up. The nurse said you're going to walk around today," Summer recalled what Ava had told them earlier.

That got Ryan's attention and his eyes shot open. "What?"

"Yah, man. It's finally time for you to get off that lazy ass of yours," Luke teased.

Ryan had a surprised look on his face as he came to terms with the fact that he hadn't so much as walked down the hall since he'd been at HOAG. The closest he had come to walking was two days ago when they had him use the bathroom instead of having a catheter, but even then they practically carried him the ten feet across the room. Ryan pushed himself up on his elbow and felt his ribs painfully remind him that they were still sore.

"Here, kid, let me help you," Sandy hurried over and raised the head of the bed so Ryan was sitting up a little more and the pressure was off his good arm.

As if on cue, Katrin and Ava walked in.

"Good morning!" Katrin greeted as she made her way to the bed.

"Seth, what did I say about waking Ryan?" Ava laughed at Seth.

"What makes you think it was me? Plenty of other people in this room would deliberately ignore your request to let him sleep," Seth failed miserably as his cheeks grew red.

"Well, Ryan now that you're awake, I'm sure someone has told you about our plans for today?" Ava asked as she picked up Ryan's chart.

"Yeah," Ryan replied, still shocked at how he never realized he hadn't made it out of his room yet. "Yeah, they told me."

"Good. The doctor will be by and then we'll find some breakfast for you. Then before lunch a physical therapist will come in we want you up and moving. Sound ok?" Ava explained more to Sandy and Kirsten than Ryan.

Ryan just nodded sleepily as Kirsten and Sandy talked with the nurse some more and Katrin made her way over to Ryan.

"Hey, Ry," Katrin said quietly. "How do you feel?"

Ryan opened his eyes and stared at his beautiful nurse. "Hey. I'm fine now that you're here," he smiled lamely.

"What a smooth talker _you_ are, fracture patient," Katrin replied, laughing.

"It working?" Ryan smiled lazily as his eyes closed again.

Katrin laughed but before she could reply, Dr. Keelin entered the room to examine Ryan.

"How we doing today?" the loud voice of Dr. Keelin sounded throughout the room. The sudden change from Katrin's calming voice to that of the pediatrician's alarmed Ryan.

"Fine," Ryan replied but his facial expression as he tried to sit up told the doctor otherwise.

"I'm Dr. Keelin," the man said as he walked farther in the room. He shook Sandy and Kirsten's hands before he came over to Ryan. "Hey there. I imagine you're not feeling too hot, huh, buddy?"

Katrin had moved behind the doctor and Ryan almost laughed out loud when he saw her roll her eyes at Dr. Keelin. She met eyes with Seth and both held their breath trying not to laugh at what they were sure Ryan was thinking.

"I'm just tired," Ryan lied, not telling the whole truth.

"Well the sweat on your face and the high heart rate tell me something different, son," Dr. Keelin smiled. "You don't need to be macho. Can you give me a pain rating?"

All Ryan wanted was for the doctor to leave him alone and for everyone to let him sleep. Except for Katrin. She could stay. He liked her.

"I don't know…six?" Ryan replied honestly. His arm was killing him.

"Ok, young man then I think it's time we did something about that, huh? Your arm must be kinda scratchy, too with that cast on. Am I right?" Dr. Keelin asked sympathetically. Ryan nodded slightly to humor the man. "I'm just going to check them stitches on your leg first, ok?" he asked as he made to lift the gown.

"Like I have a choice," Ryan mumbled. Dr. Keelin didn't seem to hear the comment but Seth could make out the words from Ryan's lips. He snickered to himself.

"How's he doing?" Seth asked, more so that the doctor would continue his child's speak than to understand Ryan's condition.

"Well he's not fallin' apart, I can tell you that. Stitches look good. Guess that discount thread worked. Kidding. Sorry. It looks fine, no sign of infection," the doctor added quickly after he got many weird looks from the crowded room. Dr. Keelin was used to parents of terrified three-year-olds. Even Seth didn't find any humor in the middle-aged doctor.

"When can I go home?" Ryan asked the doctor, reviving everyone from their confused expressions.

"Well if you keep doing fine for the rest of today, we're looking at kickin' you out tomorrow morning. Just gotta do some walkin' around today. Sound ok?" Dr. Keelin responded.

"Sooner the better," Ryan replied honestly. He'd been in the hospital for a week and the pool house had never seemed so inviting. "Sorry," Ryan added when he realized his statement was a little forward.

"No offense taken, big guy. I hear worse," Dr. Keelin answered. He proceeded to question Ryan more thoroughly and he finally came to the conclusion that Ryan looked as good as expected. He left the group feeling confident and ready to bring the poor teen home.

* * *

"Look, Ryan," Katrin began later that day as she had a few moments with her patient. They wouldn't be alone for much longer as the various visitors kept coming and going. "There's something I have to talk to you about."

Ryan was surprised. What did she want? Maybe she never liked him. Maybe it was an act. That had to be it. Why would she want _him_?

"What's up?" Ryan asked curiously.

Katrin moved over and leaned on the bed. "So do you remember when your bike first got hit? The day I saw you?"

"Vaguely," Ryan answered truthfully.

"I wasn't just running by," Katrin paused, studying Ryan's face for a reaction. When she saw an indifferent look on his face she continued, "You guessed that, didn't you?"

"Sort of. I mean, I don't know, no one runs on that street in this town. They all go to fancy gyms. And I've never seen you before, and when you began to pay attention to me here, sorry, but I got suspicious. That serendipity stuff doesn't happen to me," Ryan answered, scaring himself the more he talked. He never thought about who she was, he was just happy she was around. But once he actually faced his feelings, there was no way it could add up.

"Don't speak like that," Katrin replied, getting off her subject. "You deserve a little luck in your life. And for the record, Ryan, I wasn't trying to lead you on, and I want you to trust me. Do you trust me?"

Ryan was becoming more skeptical by the minute. Lead him on? Of course that's what she was doing. How could he be so ignorant? I was practically half-baked from the pain and medicine, he rationalized. Why should he trust her?

"Why?" Ryan answered.

Katrin paused. This was harder than she thought. "Do you know someone named Eddie? He lives in Chino?"

Ryan was stunned. Eddie. Chino. Shit.

"How do _you_ know him?" Ryan felt so lost.

Before the conversation could continue any farther, Sandy returned with a Diet Coke in his hand followed by Seth and Kirsten with drinks themselves.

"What'd we miss?" Seth asked nonchalantly as he took his regular seat by the bedside.

"Nothing," Ryan and Katrin replied at the same time.

Nothing. What was going on?

* * *

The next morning Ryan was discharged. He was finally free from Sterile Land and all the poking and prodding doctors and nurses. The only regret he had of leaving was that he never had an opportunity to finish his confusing conversation with Katrin. She had given him a card before he left the hospital and written: _We need to finish the conversation. Call me when you can._ Her phone number was below.

_When he can._ Easier said than done. As soon as Ryan entered the car to go home, exhaustion that he hadn't felt in a while seemed to creep over him. He couldn't wait to flop into his own bed. His head was beginning to feel heavy again and he was cold despite the warm June day. He kept quiet however as he was sure Kirsten would march him right back to the emergency room if he told her. He'd just sleep it off.

As soon as he got home, Ryan headed straight for the pool house.

"Honey we were hoping that you could stay in the house. We don't want you so far away. What if you need something?" Kirsten worried.

"I'll be fine, but thanks. It's not far. If I need anything I'll call you?" Ryan pleaded, wanting so desperately to take a nap.

"Ryan you look so pale. How about you stay in the guest room until the end of the week and then we'll talk about the pool house. I know it's going to be a big adjustment with your arm and we want you to be close," Kirsten put up a good argument.

The end of the week was close. Just two days. If it meant immediate sleep, then fine.

"Just until the end of the week?" Ryan made sure it wasn't a trick.

"Then we can re-negotiate the contract, kid. Sound ok?" Sandy jumped in.

"Fine," Ryan mumbled. He just wanted a bed at this point.

"Good. Now lets get you upstairs. You look so tired. Are you feeling alright?" Kirsten turned to look at her son.

"I'm fine," Ryan lied.

Kirsten wasn't satisfied. "Ryan let me take your temperature."

"No. No, please, I'm fine," Ryan protested. "I just want to take a nap."

Kirsten looked at Ryan. Giving in she responded, "Ok, but I need to wake you in a few hours for you to take the medicine and eat some lunch. Compromise?"

"Sure," Ryan said, barely paying attention. He almost gasped in satisfaction when he saw the guest bed looking so inviting.

When Kirsten finally left and Ryan was all alone, he felt almost too tired to sleep. He realized it was the first time he was really by himself since being admitted to the hospital. No nurses or doctors. The hallway was quiet. It was just him and his thoughts. As his eyes closed his mind drifted to Katrin, and her call seemed so unimportant. Was she leading him on or not? Did she actually like him? It didn't matter now. Summer's get well soon plan seemed too tiring, and Seth's one-armed video game arrangement sounded too difficult. All he cared about were the pillows. Once he woke up he hoped the nausea and exhaustion would be remedied.

Ryan had been asleep for a few hours when suddenly his stomach jolted him awake. He felt worse than when he first went to bed and he decided he had about ten seconds to make it to the bathroom before he vomited what little food he had in his stomach.

Just making it too the toilet was difficult. He knew the floor plan by heart but his head couldn't seem to coordinate with his feet the short walk down the hall. Finally reaching the bathroom he bent over the toilet and threw up more than he remembered eating. He hit his cast on the wall which sent a searing pain through his arm and he suddenly realized how hot it felt.

"Ryan?" Kirsten ran up the stairs hearing Ryan in the bathroom. "Ryan are you alright?"

All that she got in reply was an involuntary hiss of pain from Ryan when his stomach heaved a second time.

"Ryan?" Sandy ran into the bathroom, hearing both his wife and son.

Ryan looked up dazed as they hurried over to him.

"Ryan?" Kirsten asked with no reply.

Sandy made to wet a towel in the sink. "Here, kid, this will feel good."

Kirsten felt his forehead. "Ryan you're burning up. I think we should go back to the hospital."

"No hospital," Ryan muttered, barely audible. His eyes started to droop as he sunk down against the wall.

"Ryan, wake up, kid. Come on, you can't sleep on the floor. Lets sit you up," Sandy said as he placed the towel on the back of the sick teen's neck. "Ryan?" he continued when he got no reply.

"Ryan?" Kirsten panicked as she bent down beside her son and gently shook his shoulder.

"Mom what's going—" Seth stopped suddenly as he looked in the bathroom door. Ryan was slumped against the wall, eyes closed, the sling laying awkwardly on his shoulder. Sandy and Kirsten were shaking Ryan's shoulders and getting no response. Seth's heart began to race.

Kirsten turned around. "Seth! Oh God call 911 now!"


	7. Chapter 7

Infectious Chapter 7

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

* * *

As Katrin walked home that afternoon she thought about what a situation she had gotten herself into. She was here technically illegally. Why hadn't they just waited for the visa? She had overheard a conversation that potentially could put her life in danger, not to mention the life of her best friend who was no longer talking to her. Katrin had meddled with a fire she shouldn't have. Katia was right. They should have no involvement in the situation. Now Ryan was not only still in danger of whoever Eddie was, but Katrin couldn't warn him in time and he probably wouldn't trust her anyways. She had no expectation for him to call like she had asked. Why would he? She had led him on, but only so he would believe _her_, not some random student nurse, when she told him the news. The thing was, she actually was starting to have a cute weak spot for him.

Victor was most likely going to go after Eddie, but not for Ryan's sake. Eddie had promised Vick he would do nothing with the car, yet there was poor Ryan in the hospital. It was only a matter of time. What could Katrin do?

When Katrin entered the apartment, Katia was standing by the kitchen table with her arms crossed, but she looked more scared than angry.

"K?" Katrin questioned, sensing the fearful expression on her friend's face.

"Victor called," Katia stated simply.

Katrin froze. "Your cell phone?"

"No, the home phone that we don't have connected," Katia said sarcastically. "Yes. My phone. He asked for you because you didn't answer when he called you."

"My phone was off…" Katrin replied slowly as she realized she never turned it back on after she left the hospital.

"What does he want, Katrin? You did pay him, right?" Katia panicked.

"Of course I did," Katrin spat back.

"Then what? What does he want with you, Katrin?" Hundreds of thoughts were running through Katia's head.

"I…I may have told him about Ryan," Katrin answered as she looked at the ground in shame.

"You did WHAT?!" Katia exclaimed. "I told you _not_ to get involved! It was one thing to like Ryan or whatever you were doing, but Katrin. You told _Victor_?! Why would _ever_ do that?" Katia slammed her fist on the table in frustration.

"I…I don't know," Katrin slumped down in the chair and put her head in her hands, still not looking at her friend. "I don't know, ok? I mean, Ryan seemed so sweet. Don't look at me like that! I _mean_ in the sense that he doesn't deserve whatever the hell he's involved in."

"And why did you think telling Victor would help?" Katia replied, frustrated, as she sat down across from Katrin.

"I don't know, K! I went to pay him the money then I casually mentioned Ryan. But I didn't say we overheard the conversation. I just casually mentioned it like he was a regular patient, just to see Victor's reaction. But I didn't say anything about you. At all. I promise, K," Katrin finished quietly.

Nothing was said for a minute until Katia broke the silence.

"So what's going to happen now?"

Katrin shook her head. "I don't know. Did he ask for me to call him?"

"Yes," Katia nodded. "You probably should do it soon. Katrin I don't know what you got yourself into. Do you?"

Katrin started to cry. "I thought it would be easy to fix it. Now what? I have no idea how to get out of this," she finished as she let out a frustrated noise and leaned back in her chair.

"Look," Katia said softly as she pulled her chair around the table. "I know I haven't really been…around…to help you with this. I'm sorry. We're in this together, ok?"

All Katrin could do was cry harder and hug her best friend. They had been through so much together. There was no way this situation, though still dire, could tear them apart.

* * *

Kirsten paced the floor of the emergency room, the scene feeling all too familiar to her. The ambulance had come to rush Ryan to HOAG and Kirsten stayed by his side the whole trip, tears streaming from her face in confusion, fright, and sympathy. What did Ryan do to deserve this? He was just released from the hospital and not four hours later was now repeating last week's scene. Kirsten knew Ryan would draw a parallel to this. He had a momentary reprise then before he could feel the satisfaction, his life spiraled back down again. Kirsten had spent the last year convincing Ryan of the opposite. His new life change was permanent, no strings attached. Misplaced guilt settled on Kirsten when she considered the fact that had she not taken Ryan in, he wouldn't be in the hospital. She knew it wasn't right, but nevertheless, her new-found mothering conscience told her otherwise.

Sandy sat in an uncomfortable waiting room chair with his eyes closed and a weathered and worried look on his face. He was unconsciously picking his nails with one hand while the other rubbed his forehead. He would stare at the ground, and shake his head slightly, like he was having a conversation with himself.

Seth stared around the waiting area. He saw families with rosary beads, deeply embedded in their thoughts. There were others pacing like Kirsten, and then some people harassing the nursing staff for news on a loved one, but all the occupants in the room shared a mutual feeling of concern and hoped for the best outcome. Seth silently joined them in their vigil, wishing never to have the unexpected sense of fear again.

It felt like hours had gone by as they awaited news on Ryan's condition. The paramedics had trouble waking Ryan in the ambulance, getting limited reactions from him when they tried. He opened his eyes once, right before they arrived to the hospital, and his gaze seemed distant and unfocused like he was lost in a feverish trance.

Slowly but surely each family in the waiting room, from the rosary-prayers to the pacers, each received news on their relatives, some negative, some positive. Seth prayed that Ryan's update would reflect the latter. When a doctor finally emerged with answers for the Cohens, the clock was nearing five o'clock.

"Family of Ryan Atwood?" a caring doctor called as he entered the waiting room.

Seth, Sandy, and Kirsten stood up so quickly that Seth felt light-headed from his break in concentration.

"Yes! Yes, please. We're Ryan's legal guardians," Sandy responded quickly with a strong feeling of déjà vu.

"Lets go sit over here," the doctor directed the family to a smaller group of chairs where the least amount of people could over hear the conversation.

"How is he?" Kirsten shot out with haste before the doctor could explain his differential.

The kind doctor nodded in a way that only acknowledged her question. "We've been running every test possible to look for abnormalities."

"Abnormalities? You don't think there's anything _abnormal_ about the fact that he _passed out_?" Seth couldn't help but exclaim.

"Seth," both Sandy and Kirsten scolded at the same time.

The doctor continued, "His white blood cell count is very high, and coupled with his fever signs point to infection."

Infection. Again. Great.

"Is it his arm again?" Kirsten asked, frightened.

"We've taken some x-rays and some irregularities appear on the films. We'd like to take him for an MRI to explored the area further. I have this consent form for you to sign allowing us to continue the testing," the doctor prompted as he handed Sandy the clip board.

Sandy didn't so much as skim the pages, knowing full well he should have at least versed himself in the procedure, but he knew no time could be wasted.

"What do you mean 'irregularities'?" Sandy encouraged the physician. "Not…not cancer or anything, right?"

Kirsten and Seth's faces paled.

"We are exploring every option at this point, but from here we are suspecting an infection in the marrow of the radius bone itself," the doctor continued. "This form here allows us to conduct a bone biopsy if needed. Although his arm is newly casted, we might need to extract a piece of the bone to decipher which bacteria has infected Ryan if that's the case."

Sandy quickly signed the second form.

"What caused this?" Kirsten questioned hurriedly. "I mean, he was fine when he left the hospital! What happened? Oh no," she suddenly paused. "It's my fault. I should have taken his temperature the _minute_ I suspected something was wrong! We would have known sooner and—"

"Honey, this isn't your fault," Sandy comforted. "None of us saw it coming."

Kirsten shook her head. "What do we do now?" She asked the doctor.

"We'll put a rush on the tests and get some answers as soon as possible. He's holding steady which is a good sign. He does keep going in and out of consciousness, but each time he wakes he seems a little more coherent," the doctor paused. "As far as a diagnosis goes, osteomyelitis is our first thought, but there are many other theories. It is very treatable with antibiotics. As of right now, it looks like the life of the arm isn't in jeopardy which is good news. We're doing everything we can and he's keeping up," the doctor slowly finished and tried to offer an encouraging smile.

"Thank you," was all Sandy could reply. Thousands of questions came to his head as they entered the familiar territory of unknowns and waiting.

Seth watched as the doctor left with the signed consent forms. It was by far the worst summer ever.

* * *

I know I've kinda got two stories going on now with the Katrin ordeal and Ryan's new road block, but I'm trying to sort it out as best and as quickly as I can! Thanks for hanging in there! Keep the thoughts coming :)


	8. Chapter 8

Infectious Chapter 8

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

* * *

Ryan was whisked through the hospital doors so fast that the gurney barely made it around the corners. Lights were shown into his eyes and it seemed like fists were rubbing so hard against his sternum in hopes of eliciting a response. Voices were calling his name and commanding him to open his eyes, but to Ryan, everything seemed a blur.

He felt himself being poked and prodded all over his body, questions asking him to squeeze fingers and wiggle toes, none of which seemed to properly enter Ryan's brain. Half the time he couldn't even tell if they were talking to him or some one else in the area. He could feel himself being hooked up to God knows how many machines, and he could feel the sting of blood being drawn, vial after vial. Letters being thrown around ordering blood counts, protein something, and blood gasses. Why was there gas in blood? It seemed a funny thought. Ryan was becoming delirious.

After what seemed like ages, Ryan was once again transported onto a racing gurney, but this time the ride was much shorter and controlled. When the bed finally stopped moving, he felt the sling loosen and be pulled off, gravity pulling his heavily-casted arm down to the x-ray machine. His arm was placed in many directions, each picture satisfying only one angle's view. Every time someone touched him, pain radiated through Ryan's brain, although he was either too delirious from the fever to notice or they had given him some sort of medicine. They wouldn't let his fever get too high, right? No, defiantly not. They must have given him something for the pain? _That's_ what they must have been doing when they injected something into his IV. Maybe. Why couldn't he understand what was going on? Where did that mask come from?

"Whoa, wait, Sarah," one radiologist said to his tech. "Hold off. He's getting a little agitated. Take the film off from under his arm. Carl?" he called to the nearby doctor.

"Ryan, calm down, kid," the doctor said as he re-examined his patient. The bright light shown in Ryan's eyes again. What did he do this time? "Heart's racing," Dr. Sherry looked at the monitor. "How much morphine we give him back in trauma?"

"Not much," a nurse answered. All the staff in the radiology room went over to calm Ryan down. His head was now beginning to move back an forth and the oxygen mask was falling off, making Ryan gasp at the sudden change in air flow. Instead of opening his eyes like the whole room prompted, Ryan squeezed them shut at the waves of pain that suddenly traveled up his arm.

The doctor ordered another small dose of pain medication to give the poor, restless kid some relief, but also to keep him still enough to get accurate films. Ryan's fever was still elevated, but he was not in immediate danger, and it was unfortunately not the first priority.

"There, you see it?" Dr. Sherry pointed out to his colleagues as they all looked at the various x-rays of Ryan's arm.

"There, right around the radial head and down distally about three inches," another doctor agreed as he described the dark patch on the film.

A third doctor clipped up Ryan's post-op x-rays and the team was a wonder that they were of the same arm. Whatever was going on with the boy had a quick and acute onset. The first round of blood tests was back from the lab and Ryan's white blood cell count was elevated again, and other signs of infection and inflammation were yet again present. It was back to the drawing board.

"Need an MRI," a third doctor threw out to the group. Murmurs of agreement came from all the hospital staff.

"I'll get consent from mom and dad," the first doctor announced as he left the room.

* * *

By the time the doctor had returned from talking to the Cohens, Ryan was already in route to the MRI suite. He was still fading in and out of consciousness, the broad spectrum antibiotics for his fever making him lazy. Voices were talking to him again, but he still struggled to understand them.

"Ryan?" one nurse kept repeating. "Ryan, can you hear me?"

The more times she said it, the more clear it became to Ryan, slowly bringing him out of his fever- and medication-induced stupor. He blinked his eyes multiple times, trying to make the woman's face come in more clearly.

"That a boy," the nurse continued, smiling. "You're making us all a little worried here. Do you know where you are?"

Ryan looked around. How did all those people get around him? Where were the Cohens? Didn't someone say they had permission from 'mom and dad'? Sandy and Kirsten must be here somewhere…Then it all came flooding back. Accident. Arm. Cast. Home. Sick. Damn.

"Hospital," Ryan realized at length.

"That's right, hon," the nice nurse answered. "That's right. We're going to do some tests to try and figure out what's making you sick, ok? Do you have any pain?"

"Not really," Ryan answered truthfully. He knew his body hurt, yet somehow he either didn't care or that message wasn't really crossing his mind. He couldn't decide.

"Good. We're trying to help you with that," the nurse continued. "We're going to set you up for an MRI. You need to stay very still, alright?"

Ryan nodded. Still he could handle. Moving still brought on little bouts of nausea, but still was good.

Once the MRI was complete, the doctors still weren't satisfied with the results. They were fairly certain he had developed radial osteomyelitis, but a bone biopsy was needed for further confirmation and the detection of which strain the bacteria belonged to. That meant off with the cast and back into surgery. Poor kid.

* * *

"Hi, Victor?" Katrin said as she carefully dialed his number. Katia was right by her side, trying as best as possible to listen to the call.

"Ah, Katrin," the man answered. The girls could almost see his smug expression. "You finally decided to call me back."

Katrin bit her lip. "Yes, I'm sorry. My phone was still off from the hospital. I forgot to turn it back on."

"That's ok, my girl. I forgive pretty girls like you," he responded.

_Cheesy scumbag_, Katrin and Katia thought, rolling their eyes. "Thank you," was all Katrin could reply.

"Well I suppose you wonder why I'm calling," the man paused to egg Katrin on.

"Um, well, yes I was curious," Katrin replied, shooting Katia a confused look. Suddenly Katia ran to get a piece of paper and a pen.

"Well it seems as though you and that Ryan kid know each other pretty well," he began.

_Say nothing!_ Katia wrote and held up for Katrin to read.

"He is my patient and I am his nurse. There is nothing else," Katrin replied. It technically was true. Why did she wait so long to tell Ryan about Eddie?

"Well I have my sources who tell me otherwise. I am responsible for more students than just you and your friend, you know…What I need you to tell me is the truth, Katrin. Remember I can send you right back to Berlin." Victor paused, trying to be dramatic. "Did Ryan ever mention Eddie? Did he _really _remember him from the accident?"

Katrin looked at Katia who wrote, _be vague_.

"Well like I said before, he doesn't really remember the accident, just the profile. I didn't hear any names," Katrin said at length.

"I see," was all Victor could reply as he tried to come up with something good.

_Get out_, Katia wrote.

"That's really all I know," Katrin tried.

"Oh don't think you're going anywhere yet, you tricky bitch. You better not be lying. I've got a lot weighing on your fairy tale," Victor suddenly turned angry.

Katia and Katrin paled.

"What else do you need to know?" Katrin finally responded.

"You must meet Eddie. But be careful, Eddie does not like being accused, mind you. He has…issues…of his own he needs to sort out. I'll make you a deal. You get answers out of him, I don't turn you in to Immigration. I don't easily threaten friends, Katrin. You understand that, don't you? I am a respectable man which I think you'll find in time. I can easily take him down, Katrin, but I'd believe a friend before an illegal bitch like you. I'll let you know time and place. And you pick up your phone next time." With that, Victor hung up.

Katrin and Katia just looked at each other. What was she going to do? Get answers out of Eddie? She knew one thing. If Victor turned her in, he was going down, too.

* * *

A few hours later, Katrin and Katia made their way back to HOAG to start their next shift. The girls parted at the emergency room entrance to go to their respective departments, and Katrin walked alone, cutting through the emergency waiting room. She was surprised when she saw the Cohens sitting there, seeming very worried. The looks were all too familiar.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen? Seth?" Katrin approached the family, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Ryan passed out at home. He had a high fever and was vomiting. They're doing some tests on him now, and they think he has osteomyelitis," Sandy answered, reciting what the doctor had told them.

"Is that bad?" Seth couldn't help but ask. Of course it was bad. He saw how sick his brother looked.

"Not if it's caught early…but it depends on each person really," she trailed off, her mind elsewhere.

"Katrin, sweetie, are you ok?" Kirsten asked, puzzled by the student's fazed look.

"I need to talk to you," Katrin replied frankly and sat down.

* * *

I'm sorry I'm taking forever with writing this! As a reader I hate waiting for updates, so with my other stories I tried hard to add new chapters regularly. Sadly I have turned into a hypocrite. Blame it on life and school. Sorry again and thanks for sticking with this!


	9. Chapter 9

Infectious Chapter 9

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thanks for reading/reviewing!

* * *

Katrin sat in the empty chair next to Seth and she faced the Cohens.

"What's wrong?" Kirsten asked again.

Katrin sighed. "Does Ryan know someone named Eddie?"

All three Cohens sucked in their breaths. "Yes," they all said in unison.

"How do _you_ know him?" Seth asked a little too quickly, wheels turning in his head.

Tears formed in Katrin's eyes. Why was she crying? She looked at the ground before she started to unravel the whole story, only pausing to steel glances at the Cohens. She even went as far as to hint to the family that her visa was illegal, but admitting to her felony in a way that almost validated her offense. She didn't care what she said, just as long as it helped Ryan and she didn't go near Victor. Katrin had heard stories…

After her long-winded explanation at the mess she was in, Sandy spoke up.

"Katrin don't you dare go near this Victor again. What the hell were you thinking? It's one thing for a felony like this, but agreeing to do his dirty work?"

"Sandy," Kirsten scolded, surprised.

"And dragging Ryan into this?" Seth added. He knew something was up with their supposed relationship. He didn't know if Ryan liked the girl herself or just the attention…

"Seth," Kirsten scolded her son, too.

"I know, I know," Katrin cried silently again. "I am so, so sorry. All I want to do is help him. Please understand that. I just…I don't even know," she sighed. "How can I get Ryan out of this?"

The Cohens stared at Katrin. How _would _they solve it?

"I don't know yet. Just promise me you will _not_ answer the phone when Victor calls. And tell Katia to do the same. Here's my number," Sandy gave Katrin his business card. "You call me when he calls you. No matter what. Understand?"

"Yes. Yes, thank you," Katrin replied, extreme gratitude all over her face.

"I take care of my son, especially when trouble finds him, and that includes helping those involved," Sandy replied sincerely.

Before Katrin could continue, a voice caught their attention.

"Family of Ryan Atwood?" a different doctor called as she entered the waiting room.

"Yes!" Kirsten said as she, Sandy, and Seth stood up.

"I've got to go," Katrin gasped, suddenly noticing the time.

"Of course," Sandy replied. "You have my card. Remember what I said."

Katrin nodded and took off.

"How did everything go? Did you find anything on the MRI?" Kirsten asked the doctor quickly.

"We did see some more indication of swelling and infection on the films," Dr. Caron began after she moved the family to a quieter, more private area of the waiting room to deliver her news.

"What does that mean? Swelling in the bone? Can that happen? Bones get bigger?" Seth asked, confused.

"It's actually a swelling of the bone tissue, _inside_ the bone, which leads to eventual infection," Dr. Caron paused and looked at the three before her.

"They mentioned a bone biopsy…" Sandy trailed.

"Yes," the doctor nodded. "We have your consent forms and they should be starting the procedure soon."

Kirsten began to cry. The past week had been one of the most trying of her life. She tried to be strong for her whole family, but especially Ryan. If he picked up on her fear or even her pity-like behavior, she was afraid he would wallow up again. Days worth of tears streamed from her eyes that night.

Sandy rubbed one hand over his face while he gave his wife a one-armed hug.

"Is it painful?" Seth asked quietly, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"There is some degree of discomfort," Dr. Caron tried to sugar coat the explanation.

"Just say it!" Seth exclaimed. "The poor kid's gone through enough! Is this 'degree of discomfort' like he can feel a bit of a sting or he's probably going to pass out from the pain? He doesn't deserve any of this!"

"Seth!" Sandy and Kirsten yelled at the same time.

The doctor nodded, showing a sign of understanding on her face. "We are going to go in with a needle through his skin and get right into the bone itself. An aspiration. The surgeon will extract a bit of bone tissue and we'll rush it to the lab for testing. By knowing which bacteria is causing the problem, we'll be able to give the best treatment. He _will_ have a local anesthetic, and we will be giving him pain medication throughout the procedure. We will do our best to make sure he's hanging in there," she finished with a smile.

"Does he still have a fever?" Kirsten asked.

"We have him on a broad spectrum of antibiotics now, but yes, his temperature is still elevated. Once we find the strain of the bacteria, we can be more aggressive with specific medications," Dr. Caron answered.

"So where do we go from here?" Sandy asked after a pause in the conversation.

"We'll keep him here for a few days to make sure the infection doesn't spread anywhere else. Then we'll recast his arm and send him home. But he _is_ going to need long-term antibiotics. Months. When the time comes, we will insert a PICC line so he can continue the medication at home," the doctor described as she demonstrated on her own arm. "Do you have any other questions?"

"When can we see him?" Kirsten pleaded.

Dr. Caron looked at her watch. "I think you might have a few minutes before he goes in for surgery. Follow me. I'll see what I can do."

"Ryan?" Kirsten said as she ran up to her son. The Cohens were able to see him quickly before they took him upstairs for his scheduled surgery.

"Kirsten?" Ryan replied slowly as he opened his eyes. He couldn't tell if she was real or part of his fever- and medication-induced imagination.

"Yes, honey it's me," Kirsten tried hard not to let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Hey, kid. It's Sandy." Sandy stepped in and touched Ryan's good hand. "We're right here for you."

"Yah, bro I'm here, too. You better hurry up and stop with this sick thing you got here. You've already got enough attention with the broken arm thing. Not funny," Seth laughed despite his worry.

"Seth…" Ryan trailed, sure he hear his brother.

"Honey, we'll be waiting for you when you come back. Don't you worry," Kirsten continued, trying to assure both Ryan and herself.

"Katrin…" Ryan suddenly said quietly, shutting his eyes.

"What about her, Ry?" Seth said hesitantly.

"Supposed to call her…she had something…important to say…number in card…back home…forgot," Ryan mumbled.

Before anyone could answer his slurred statement, a nurse came and broke up the reunion.

"I'm sorry, folks. It's time. We should be done in a few hours."

"By, sweetie. We'll be right here," Kirsten said again.

"See ya, kid," Sandy added.

"Be a good little patient, Ry. Follow the rules," Seth joined.

"He's lucky to have a family like you," the nurse said as she and a few orderlies left with the gurney.

_Lucky._ Sandy thought. _If only we can help him out of the mess he doesn't even know he's in._


	10. Chapter 10

Infectious Chapter 10

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

Thanks for all the hits, alerts, and comments!

* * *

"K!" Katrin whispered loudly as she found her friend. The two were on break at the same time and were in the corner of the cafeteria.

"Hey. How's your day—" Katia was cut off.

"I told the Cohens. You know, Ryan's family," Katrin said quickly.

"You did _what_? Katrin, we're in enough trouble. You've gone and got them involved?" Katia scolded.

"I had to! What else were we supposed to do, huh? Tell me. We are in _way_ over our heads, and I admit, everything about this situation is my fault, and I need to get us out of it…" Katrin trailed.

"How much did you say? How do you discretely tell someone that we're pretty much being blackmailed into selling someone out for a hit and run. We have _everything_ to lose here, Katrin," Katia put her hands on her hips in frustration.

"Well the dad's a lawyer and I was hoping that maybe he…no. I don't know. K, we shouldn't have even gotten the visas so quickly. I mean, it had to catch up to us sooner or later, not matter how much trouble we're in! You don't win if you break the law. It was coming anyways," Katrin replied reluctantly.

Katia was silent for a few minutes. "What did he say?"

"He said not to answer Victor's call, and to let him know as soon as my phone rings. And you aren't to answer Victor either," Katrin relayed.

Katia nodded. "If we're not together, your second call better be to me."

"Of course," Katrin replied.

"It will be all over soon," Katia encouraged.

Katrin nodded silently. "Then it's back to Berlin, you know…"

"We'll see," Katia replied.

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

Ryan's tests were completed, the strain of bacteria was identified, and his medications were changed appropriately. His fever was still beginning to climb however which had the doctors slightly concerned. The medications should be working soon, they assured the Cohens.

Sandy was the first one to see Ryan after the biopsy. The teen looked so young and helpless and the exact opposite of what he always tried to express. He was sleeping as Sandy quietly entered the room. Ryan's arm had a new, long white cast which of course extended all the way close to his shoulder and was bent in the same position as it was pre-biopsy.

Sandy looked at all the IV's surrounding Ryan. The doctors had mentioned that Ryan would wear a PICC line after he was released from the hospital. Ryan would not like that. Long sleeve shirt to cover the line or t-shirt to fit over the cast? Poor kid.

Kirsten and Sandy switched places after the latter finished his short visit. As Kirsten entered the room, tears sprung in her eyes again as she looked at her sick son, lying so uncomfortably in the hospital bed. She gently rubbed her thumb on Ryan's good hand, careful of the IV's and she talked to him, quietly vowing that everything would work itself out.

Before he left for the night, Seth finally was allowed to have a few minutes with Ryan. Seth's first thoughts were the same as his parents', that Ryan looked so small and defenseless laying there. The thick cast was across his chest in a sling and it slowly rose and fell with Ryan's breathing.

"Hey, buddy," was all Seth could say as he sat in the chair next to his brother. "Uh, so you're back here, huh? How do you get an infection in your _bone_? Seriously, man. I looked up osteo whatever on Wikipedia. Dude. Good thing they caught it in time. I swear if anything goes wrong again with your arm, I will personally cut it off for you. Save you the pain."

Ryan responded by sleeping. Seth sighed.

"You know…you could always get like a fake arm," Seth continued, talking more to himself than to Ryan now. "You could make it really cool, like have a claw at the end or something. I will design it for you. Now worries there, bro." Seth looked down at his brother. "No worries."

* * *

Sure enough, Katrin's phone rang within a few hours. _Victor _showed up on the caller ID, and the nurse was tempted to answer. Sandy's warning was in her head all day, and she had nervously played with the business card in her pocket to the point where she hoped she could still read the number. Should she send it right to voicemail? That would be too obvious. She could always say she didn't have the phone on her…

Like she promised, Katrin called Sandy as soon as she could.

"Hello?" Sandy answered.

"Hi, Sandy? Uh, it's Katrin…from HOAG…we talked about Ryan today," Katrin really hadn't planned what she'd say. "Um, Victor just called and—"

"You didn't answer," Sandy cut her off, more directed as a statement than a question.

"No! No, I didn't. I just let it ring. You said to call…" Katrin trailed off, wishing she never started the mess.

"Yes, I said that. I'm glad you called," Sandy quickly re-assured the girl.

"He's calling again!" Katrin suddenly interrupted as she saw the call waiting on her cell phone.

"Ok, answer it this time then, but pretend like nothing is wrong. Call me _right _back," Sandy ran a hand down his face. He hadn't counted on that.

"Hello?" Katrin answered a little tentatively.

"Katrin? What did I tell you about answering your phone?" Victor's scorn was unmistakable.

"I couldn't get to it in time, I'm sorry. I'm just finishing my shift and I couldn't answer it in front of the patients…" Katrin lied.

"Just listen. You are going to meet Eddie like planned. He will be over my house tomorrow afternoon at 2. We have some…business deals to work out. You will come over at 3 exactly. You say you don't work on Sundays, and you don't want to disappoint me, right? If Eddie fucked up like you say he did, then I need to hear it from _him_ and I don't think Immigration needs to hear of any mishaps, do you? I'd hate to see a pretty girl like you leave. You've tempted me too long, Katrin. I expect you at 3. Don't bring your skanky friend. Understand?" Victor finally finished.

"Yes," was all Katrin could respond. Tears sprang in her eyes as the call ended. She immediately called Sandy to finish their conversation.

"Don't you worry. I'll help you take care of it," Sandy comforted. He took pride when he thought at least he was doing s_omething _to help Ryan.

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to post and is so short! More soon!


	11. Chapter 11

Infectious Chapter 11

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

_Thanks for all the hits/readers! Sorry it's so late!_

_

* * *

_

"Well, Mr. Atwood! Glad to see you joined us in the land of the living!" Ryan's nurse Evelyn greeted her patient with an all too familiar tone.

Ryan looked around him and took in the hospital room. The walls were no longer white, now a dull shade of blue, but he noticed the sterile materials and the visitors' chairs, one occupied by a dozing Sandy. A constant throbbing made Ryan look down at his arm, causing him to inadvertently release a low moan of frustration, pain, and exhaustion.

"Ryan?" Sandy awoke so quickly that it made Ryan jump. The teen couldn't help but feel a mixture of safety and embarrassment once he realized that Sandy had stayed with him so long. He had, hadn't he? Ryan suddenly felt a pang of guilt, from both making the Cohens babysit him, and then doubting their presence. Of course they'd been there. They'd showed him on enough occasions that they loved him. Then again, he felt he owed them _so_ much, no matter how hard Kirsten would try to deny it.

"How are you feeling, hun?" Evelyn asked sweetly as she walked closer to the bed. "How's the pain? We don't want it to get too high and send your body into overdrive," she finished with an understanding smile.

Noticing Ryan's hesitant expression, Sandy cut in, "Do you remember what happened, Ryan?"

The poor kid paused a moment. Memories dated back to the initial start of summer, where everything all began, all the way from the accident to leaving the hospital, but as Ryan was about to answer 'yes,' he realized that the past day had been a fever-induced blur. Instead, he looked at his impossibly-huge arm in response.

"I…" Ryan began, confused wrinkles sprouting all over his face. His heart rate increased as he begin to panic when he realized he couldn't recall the past hours.

"It's alright, hun," Evelyn spoke up. "You've been very sick, but I promise you're on the mend." She turned to both Sandy and Ryan. "Dr. Parzych will be in shortly to explain everything. Bottom line, Ryan, you've got the best care possible. We're good at our job, and your family one of the most dedicated I've seen." She smiled. "I'll be back soon."

Ryan looked at Sandy, the latter reading his son's expression immediately. "It's ok, kid. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I…well we got home from the hospital and I had to stay in the guest room…then…Oh!" Ryan suddenly remembered. "I was sick and you, you and Kirsten helped me," he finished sheepishly.

"Of course, kid. We were all there, and Seth called 911," Sandy answered. Before he could continue, Dr. Parzych knocked politely on the door.

"Word in the halls is that you're awake," the doctor said with a smile.

_Why was that such a big deal?_ Ryan couldn't help but wonder.

"Uh…yah…" was all Ryan could reply. He just wanted to sleep, and hoped that the doctor would let him rest.

"Has your dad told you much of what happened?" the physician continued.

"Well, kinda…I remember being sick at home," Ryan replied, just wishing someone would get to the point.

"Yes, young man. You were very sick. Your fever was very high when you came into the emergency room and blood work showed another infection," Dr. Parzych began.

Ryan threw his head back onto the pillow. There was no _way_ he was starting with that again.

The doctor picked up on his patient's not-so-subtle frustration. "I know, I'm sorry, but we caught it before it spread."

"So where was it? The cut again?" Ryan asked, thinking he knew the answer. He closed his eyes.

"Actually, Ryan," Dr. Parzych continued as he pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, on the opposite side of Sandy. "The infection was in the bone."

Ryan's eyes snapped open. "The _bone_? Like cancer?"

"No, not cancer. Not cancer. But there _was_ an infection, something called osteomyelitis. We had to do a biopsy to find the correct kind of bacteria so we could properly treat you."

Ryan looked at Sandy, as if for conformation. Sandy nodded.

"You've been out for a while, but I promise you're getting better," Sandy encouraged.

"How much longer do I have to stay here?" Ryan couldn't help but ask.

"We want you to finish this round of antibiotics and then we can be a little more decisive. Hopefully within the next few days," Dr. Parzych answered.

Ryan sighed. It wasn't immediate, but it was doable. He wasn't prepared for what was coming next.

"But once we send you home, that doesn't mean you stop taking the medication," the doctor warned.

_Pills, ok. I can do that,_ Ryan thought.

"We will insert a PICC line right here," Dr. Parzych pointed to the crook of his arm. "It's like a permanent IV port that we will show you how to inject the medication into. This way the antibiotic will go directly into your blood stream. We're talking long-term here, Ryan. A couple of months."

"Months?!" Ryan couldn't help but exclaim. "There isn't, like, a pill form or something I can do instead?"

Thoughts were racing through Ryan's mind. As if having a gigantic cast on one arm wasn't enough, he would have a not-exactly-discreet tube sticking out of the other arm.

"I'm afraid not," Dr. Parzych answered, truly feeling bad for the young boy. "Why don't you get some rest. How is the pain now?"

Ryan mumbled, "I'm fine," and turned his head rudely away from the doctor.

Sandy glanced an apologetic smile at Dr. Parzych who nodded understandably.

"Just let the nurse know if it gets bad. I'll be back in a few hours. You'll be better soon, Ryan," Dr. Parzych comforted as he left.

"Hey, kid, it won't be that bad. We'll get through this," Sandy tried to sooth, but stopped his speech as he saw Ryan's eyes close. Out of anger or natural sleep, he couldn't tell.

* * *

At 3:00 exactly, Katrin showed up on Victor's doorstep and confidently rang the doorbell. Two old police friends of Sandy's were dressed undercover sitting on a bench down the street, ready for Katrin's text to barge in when needed. They would run in right away if the situation went amiss.

"Ah you are right on time, young lady," Victor said slyly as he pulled the student into the house. After surveying the street, he shut the door behind him.

"Hi, Victor," Katrin replied simply. She took off her coat to reveal an outfit not too overdone to be out right asking for anything, but appropriate clothing if she needed to get attention.

"Vick? Who the hell is this?" Eddie came towards the door as he heard the female voice. He stopped short as he looked at Katrin. Had he seen her before? She looked so familiar…then again, Victor did have photos of all the girls he'd 'helped.' Maybe she was one of them?

"This is Katrin. She's one of my clients and she owes me a payment. Isn't that right?" Victor raised his eyebrows at the girl.

"Yes, I have it here," Katrin said handing over an empty envelope. She had already paid her month's dues and had no money to spare.

"Let me go deposit this. Katrin I want you to stay here. You two can talk," Victor winked at the German.

Outside, the cops Jack and Charlie noticed Victor leaving the house. Sandy and Katrin had versed the two exactly on what was to be expected, but Victor leaving was not part of the said plan. They would just have to sit and wait.

"So you're one of Vick's bitches?" Eddie couldn't help but jump to the point.

"I guess you could say that," Katrin replied, playing along. "But I'm here for work."

"They all say that," Eddie laughed as he leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette.

"It's true. I'm a student nurse at HOAG in Newport," Katrin began as she flipped her hair behind here shoulders. "I've been here for a while now and I've seen some interesting cases."

"I bet," Eddie replied nonchalantly as he tapped the ash onto the carpet.

"Well one of my patients now is this poor boy who was hit by a car last week. I guess his bike got clipped and he fell, messed his arm up bad and got an infection from the dirt. I feel bad, he's such a delight to talk to," Katrin continued, eying the man across the table.

"Last week, you said?" Eddie's knee began subconsciously to bob suddenly.

"Yes. And his brother's been with him the whole time. They're the same age, you know. I guess the family kinda…adopted my patient. He's actually from here, Chino," Katrin stopped. She could almost see the wheels turning in Eddie's head.

Jack and Charlie noticed Victor come around the back door. The suspect had walked down the street and then returned, as if to make himself appear to have left the area. The two officers exchanged looks and moved closer to the house.

"You, ah, you know this kid's name?" Eddie asked Katrin.

"Oh I can't tell you that, confidentiality. Sorry. Why do you want to know?" Katrin asked. When Eddie didn't answer, she continued. "Well, I think they're about to catch the guy who did this. The brother can ID the ass and the car. He was there when the kid got hit."

Katrin was getting nervous. Wasn't Victor supposed to be here to hear all this? Wasn't that the plan? Where did he go?

"I know you, you little slut!" Eddie suddenly jumped up, realizing where he'd seen Katrin before. "You were there! I saw you in the mirror! How did you know it was me? Vick put you up to this? Answer me, dammit!" Eddie was now in Katrin's face, having covered the distance between them in less than a second. "Who the hell are you?" Eddie yelled. "You better tell that bastard to stay away. He's dead!"

Katrin pressed 'send' on her phone, the text already written to Jack and Charlie.

Victor walked briskly in through the back door and surveyed the confrontation ahead of him. He smiled.

"Oh, what is this?" Victor asked in his sly tone.

"Vick what the hell?! You setting me up? This bitch knows about Ryan!" Eddie yelled.

"Ah, and now do I. It's confirmed. You see, Eddie, when friends don't do as they promise, they pay. Don't they, Katrin?" Victor deviously walked towards the girl.

Katrin panicked. It was worse than she thought. She glanced at the front door—blocked by Eddie. The back door—blocked by Victor.

Just before she could scream, she heard the best two words of her life.

"FREEZE, POLICE!"


	12. Chapter 12

Infectious Chapter 12

Obvious FYI: I don't own anything about the O.C.!

_Thanks for all the hits/readers/reviews!_

_

* * *

_

"What the hell?" Eddie turned in surprised suspicion when he heard the undercover cops bust in the house.

"Back off her," Charlie demanded, putting his gun in its holster.

"Yo take it easy, chief. We're not doing nothing," Victor backed away from a trembling Katrin. His hands were in the air as he shook his bewildered head.

"Nothing, my ass," Jack muttered as he and his partner moved in on the perps.

"Eddie Cordoron, you're under arrest for the hit and run of Ryan Atwood. You have the right to remain—" Jack began the drill as he not-too-gently thrust Eddie's arms behind him and quickly slapped on the cold, metal handcuffs.

"What the fuck?!" Eddie interrupted. He looked desperately at Victor and then with a face of disgust at Katrin. "You can't prove anything! You've got nothing on me!"

"They have this," Katrin suddenly stepped up. She pulled a tiny microphone tactfully hidden in the seam of her shirt. "It's a microphone, and your confession was heard loud and clear, you slimy bastard."

The two young men momentarily forgot the commotion and stared at the student.

"What are you some kind of cop?" Eddie glared at Katrin.

"Nope. I just make sure people get what they deserve," Katrin smiled smugly at the two friends.

"And you," Charlie moved in on Victor. "You, Victor Busconi are under arrest for fraud and forgery of legal documents. You have the right to remain silent—"

"What the hell?! She's just as guilty as I am! The little bitch! Check her records and her roommate Katia if that's even her real name!" Victor pleaded as the back up police escorted him out of the house.

"Are you ok?" Jack asked as soon as he had the chance.

Katrin nodded. "Thank you so much," she whispered, her mind running through what might have happened.

"As much as I hate to say it, the bastard's got a point, hun. I'm sorry it turned out like this, but you, too forged legal documents," Jack spoke softly to Katrin as he and Charlie sat her down at the table.

Katrin nodded. "I know. And I know it would have caught up sooner or later…I just wanted so badly to come to America. I should have waited. I just…I couldn't wait to get out of Berlin, you know? Katia felt the same way, though she might not admit it. I dragged her along. I wanted to get away from my family! I have nine brothers and sisters, detective. Nine. My parents could barely afford to feed us and they of course always had something else to complain about. All of us of age were working, all the way from the steel plant to a stock boy. I worked for a seamstress, but by work I mean slaved! God she…anyways, all the money I pay Victor with came from that job. We had to give our parents most of the money we all earned, but I never gave as much as I should have. I just pretended I didn't get paid as much…the real money went into my savings."

"How did you hear about Victor and the job here?" Charlie asked, curious to see the inner workings of the Chino market.

"Berlin's not exactly the most docile city," Katrin replied with a small smile. "I overheard someone talking at the shop and I asked her about it. She said her cousin had connections…so I acted. He told me how much I needed and when we saved, Katia and I left. A little more than money was involved…" Katrin shivered at the memory.

"What does your family know?" Jack prompted.

"They…honestly they don't know anything. Please don't get them in trouble. I didn't give much notice. Actually not even three days. The last I saw was my mother crying…" Katrin trailed off, realizing her mistake. "Oh God…"

Jack put a comforting arm around the girl.

"Come on," Charlie finally said kindly and quietly. "Let's go."

"Now?" Katrin stopped crying and looked up at the detective.

"I'm sorry, Katrin," Charlie replied. "We have to get you downtown."

Katrin looked at the ground and nodded. Her head snapped up as she remembered.

"I need to call Sandy!" the girl realized.

"Ok. Put me on with him when you're done," Jack complied.

"Sandy?" Katrin's voice trembled as the lawyer answered his phone.

"Katrin! Where are you? Are you ok? Where are Jack and Charlie? I just left the hospital. Where are you?" Sandy stuttered out. He listened for a moment then replied, "The courthouse? I'll meet you there."

* * *

"Hi, honey," Kirsten softly greeted her injured son.

"'Sten?" Ryan mumbled as he struggled to wake.

Kirsten nodded. "How are you feeling?" She immediately regretted the question as she looked at the various IV's surrounding Ryan. The cast looked even more cumbersome than the previous one, if it was even possible. She brushed the stray hairs off Ryan's sweaty forehead.

"Fine," Ryan replied, his words slightly slurring in exhaustion. "I hate being so sleepy," he added when Kirsten gave him a questioning look.

"I know, sweetie. It's the medication. Does your arm hurt?" Kirsten continued.

"Not really. I can't really tell with the medication. It just feels…weird I guess. Almost like I can't even tell it's there," Ryan remarked, a bit mystified.

Kirsten smiled. "At least that's better than before, right?"

Ryan nodded. "No pain is better than pain," he confirmed as his eyes began to close again.

"You just rest, Ryan and I'll be here when you wake up. I promise," Kirsten comforted.

"Thanks, Mom," Ryan replied, barely audible.

Kirsten looked quickly at the sleeping form of her son. Did he just call her 'Mom'? Was he dreaming about Dawn? No, she's his mother now. Did he mean…her?

"Your welcome, Ryan," Kirsten replied, rubbing his good hand. Whatever he meant, it felt good to hear.

* * *

"Katrin?" Sandy ran into the courthouse looking around for the student. He ran up to her when he saw her sitting on a bench next to Jack.

"Sandy!" Katrin exclaimed as she jumped up. "Thank you so much. I'm so sorry to burden you. I—" she cut herself off with her tears.

Sandy put a hand on the poor girl's shoulder. "It's alright, just calm down. Are you hurt anywhere?" Sandy asked then turned to Jack. "Where are Eddie and Victor?"

"Being booked as we speak," Jack proudly relayed. "Cuffed the one who hit Ryan myself."

"I owe you, buddy. I can't tell you how grateful I am. I've secretly been looking for that kid ever since he crashed that party," Sandy replied.

"No thanks needed," Jack replied shaking his head. "Call it even. And I have a feeling that Eddie's issues run deeper than Ryan."

Sandy nodded in agreement. "Where's Charlie?" Sandy suddenly realized.

Jack pointed behind him with a short nod of his head. "I think he's a little too proud of his surprise," the cop answered with a smile.

Sandy looked around to see Charlie giving the recount of the day's events to two anxious-looking junior officers. They obviously had something better to do with their time, but were debating on whether or not to leave the conversation with the veteran. Sandy laughed to himself.

"Look I've got to be going, finishing some paper work," Jack said as he stood up. "I just wanted to make sure you got here, Sandy. Katrin," Jack turned to the girl. "You know that as soon as you're done here with Sandy he needs to take you in, understand?"

Katrin nodded in reply. "I know. I promise I'll go. I'm so sorry for all of this…" she trailed. "And thank you for rescuing me. I don't deserve it. I'm forever grateful," she finished as she looked at both Jack and Sandy.

Jack nodded . "I'm sorry it ended this way. Sandy, give me a call tonight."

Sandy said goodbye to his friend then turned to Katrin.

"Tell me, are you sure you are ok?" Sandy asked. He looked her up and down, checking for any signs of a struggle.

"I am, I promise. Thank you. They came in right in time. The signal worked. If they hadn't come…" Katrin didn't want to imagine any farther.

"Lets just skip that part and focus on what _did_ happen, alright?" Sandy rushed. "Eddie is being booked?"

"Yes. Jack arrested him for the hit and run. Eddie didn't really like that," Katrin smiled as she recalled Eddie's appalled and livid face. "What does Ryan know?" Katrin suddenly added.

"Not too much…" Sandy answered slowly. In truth, Ryan had no idea the chaos that was falling around him. Sandy debated many ways to deliver the news, trying to pose the situation in the best manner. Ryan would blame himself no matter what, and Sandy needed to figure out the most effective way to approach it.

"How is he doing?" Katrin continued.

"The doctors confirmed Osteomyelitis and they're treating him now. They did a biopsy and x-rays and the poor kid has done more procedures and endured more poking and prodding than anyone will in a life time," Sandy replied.

Katrin nodded. "It's a pretty serious diagnosis. No doubt he's exhausted . The medication they have him on is probably making him a little loopy," she continued, smiling as she imagined Ryan doped up on pain killers and antibiotics.

"They've already re-casted his arm and have him on his way to recovery," Sandy relayed the diagnosis. "But they did say he has to have a PICC line?"

"Yes. He's going to need long-term antibiotics, continue the medicine when he's at home," Katrin answered, happy to discuss something she was confident in. "They'll show you at the hospital I'm sure, but injecting the medication isn't hard. The worst part for Ryan will be hiding the line with clothing that is big enough to fit over his cast. Poor kid."

Sandy let out a sympathetic laugh. "As if he didn't have enough going on. He gets the wrong end of so much." He said the understatement of the year.

The two discussed Katrin's future before Sandy took the hint from the guards that it was time to go.

"Time?" Katrin guessed as she noticed Sandy's veering glance.

"Unfortunately. I'll walk you in, but I'm afraid I can't be of much help. Just cooperate and don't say anything more than you need to," Sandy advised. "Thank you," he said honestly to the girl. "Thank you for helping me save Ryan."

"It was my honor. Could you please not tell him of this? I mean, I want him to hear it from me," Katrin begged.

"I don't think you'll be able to see him…" Sandy didn't have the heart to tell the girl that she'd probably be held without bail.

"I know, I know. They think I'll be a flight risk. I'm not going anywhere, but I have so many loose ties here with the hospital and everyone. I'll write him a letter or something. I started this mess and I want to finish it," the student replied.

"I'll see what I can do," Sandy offered.

"Thank you again. Ryan's lucky to have you."

* * *

"Alright, for the _second_ time in two weeks, Ryan Atwood, you are officially homeward bound," Luke declared as he and Summer joined all there Cohens in Ryan's hospital room. It was finally discharge day for the patient and after specific home care instructions, Ryan was looking forward to finally starting the summer he hoped for. He still had his friends, Sandy had convinced him, perfect health or not.

"Dude, I think you've set a record for the best gifts," Seth decided as he scarfed down some of Ryan's get-well-soon chocolates.

"Seth, you're a pig. Wipe your fingers," Summer strode angrily across the room and picked up a Kleenex from Ryan's beside table and cleaned Seth's hands like an upset wife.

"Come on, _Mom_," Seth mocked Summer. "Let me have my fun. I think this one's….yup peanut butter. Sweet. Summer, look, I'm applying media to every day life. After all, 'Momma always said, _life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get_,'" Seth finished with his best impression of Forest Gump.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh. Summer scoffed despite herself.

"Ryan, what do you say? You ready to leave?" Kathleen the nurse interrupted the crowd as she entered the room with an orderly who was pushing a wheelchair. "And yes, before you ask, the wheelchair is a must. Besides, pumpkin, you look about ready to drop already."

"That's right. It's bed as soon as we get home," Kirsten followed in her best concerned-mother voice.

"Aw, Mom! Can't he stay and play PS2? I've been alone for _days_! Think about the rest of your poor family," Seth whined. "I feel so socially awkward again."

Ryan smiled. All was right in Newport.

* * *

As the days of sleepy dreams continued, Ryan became more used to the PICC line. He was now a pro at injecting each dose of medication, though Kirsten insisted on her presence, re-reading the directions every time. Everyone decided that although the line itself was wrapped, baggy t-shirts still served as the best way to cover it while still having the ability to fit over the thick cast.

A week into Ryan's homecoming, Seth yelled to his brother, "Ry! You have mail! It's a girl's handwriting! Come open it before I do. Oh. You're here. Where did you come from so quickly?"

"Seth, I've done nothing but sleep either on the couch or bed since last week. I could hear you from a mile away anyways. Give it here," Ryan replied tiredly as he grasped for the letter. He quickly opened it and read to himself:

_Dear Ryan,  
_

_I hope this letter finds you well. When last we spoke, you were quite sick and I pray that in due time you will be healed and having the summer you planned for._

_I'm afraid that albeit you are released from the hospital, I will not be able to see you again. I don't know how much Sandy has told you about my current situation, but I am at the moment somewhat willingly on my way back to Berlin. _

_In truth, I have not been honest with you. I have been in America illegally on a forged student visa, funded by a man in Chino who makes his money off of immigrants with goals bigger than reality. That was my first mistake. _

_When I first saw you at the accident scene, I was not there by coincidence. I had overheard Eddie Cordoron having a conversation with my sponsor about you and I decided to follow Eddie to see if he would carry out his futile idea. For God knows what reason, Eddie hit you with the borrowed car and sped off, leaving me to attend you and Seth. Although I know your brother would have come through for you, I was glad to be of assistance in getting the help you needed. My only regret is that your initial injuries spread to more dangerous levels._

_Both Eddie and my sponsor have since been arrested and jailed. Both will be on parole once released, and you can be sure you are far from danger. As for me, I have been deservingly deported back to Germany where I will try to start a life better than where I left off. My only hope is that I can come home to a family as accepting and loving as yours._

_You are blessed, Ryan Atwood. You have a family who loves you unconditionally and friends who will never leave your side. Go forth in confidence._ _Cherish the moments you have together and live the life you've imagined._

_Truly,_

_Katrin Laine_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Yes, I finished it. I know it was rushed, but I decided that an ending now was better than a drawn out chapter-by-chapter. When I have more time and am able to update regularly, I think I will write a sequel/follow up to my first story, _Heading For Disaster. _I have some ideas of where to take it…what do you think? Let me know! Thanks for staying with me :)


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